He clasped her hand, and stroked it slowly, but she was not to be pacified and drew it away.
"For my part, I don't know how you dare say you care for my reputation and sit here holding my hand. Walls have ears and hedges have eyes."
"You would not withdraw your hand if you were sure we were not observed?"
She made no reply.
"Possibly," he went on, "you would let me kiss those sweet lips to a smile—if we were not observed?"
"Indeed, I vow you should never do anything so indelicate."
"Z—— ds! my pretty Puritan——" he stopped because Phyllida's eyes were very wide open indeed.
"Oh Sir! no one but a father or a very old man has the right to swear so dreadfully before a maid."
He laughed.
"So oaths depend on age for their propriety? I 'faith that's a new maxim I've learned this morning. After all, my Phyllida, I am fifteen years older than you."