"Yes, there; we will give that place a new association."
But she was glad to reach the seat, for she trembled so she could hardly stand.
Then he told her how he purposed to surprise her, and answered every eager question.
"O, Annie!" he concluded, "how I have longed for this hour! Never did that dreadful ocean seem so wide before."
She looked at him more fondly than she knew, and said, "Ah, Walter! your blood is not on my hands after all."
"Let me see," he said.
"I know it is not," she replied, putting them behind her back; "don't I see you there well and happy?"
"I don't know but it will be on your hands yet," he said, half-tragically, springing up.
She gave him a swift look of inquiry, but her eyes dropped as quickly beneath his eager gaze, while her deep blush caused her to vie with the sugar-maple on the lawn in very truth. But he said after a moment, "Annie, dear, won't you let me interpret another chestnut burr for you?"
"Certainly, Walter," she tried to say innocently, "all that are on the tree."