"Was it beautiful?" she asked again.
"I don't know; I didn't see it."
"It is leaving a wonderful sky," she ventured, trying to come gracefully to the things she wanted to say.
"Yes," he murmured, after another pause. "A kind of sky that makes me sad—a sort of sadness very far from tears. I don't know what I mean;—I don't reckon anyone knows what I mean!"
Her eyes did not leave their watchful gaze upon his shoulders. It might have been that she expected to see him change again; to see him begin another transformation back to the old Dale—for surely this was not the schoolboy speaking now! And she wished he might come back, for then she could talk to him. Again she was reminded of the precious minutes passing. It would be easier to open with an attack.
"I shouldn't think you could be anything else but sad after the way you've behaved," she said slowly, wondering if he would submit.
But he only murmured:
"I did all I could to pay the debt;—I thought I was doing my duty!"
If there were a qualm of conscience in the girl's heart she ruthlessly murdered it, and evenly replied:
"Yes, I am proud of you for that. It was other things I meant."