"Come!" he answered brightly, delicately, "I know all you wish to say, because I can feel myself; but I could not bear you at the other end of the world just now, because I like you near me; and were you and I to go away from each other, as we must, I should still feel you near me, for whatever is, or has been, is forever to me."
"Sir, I can only thank you, and that means more than I can say; but I cannot think why you like me. It is most exquisite, but I do not understand it."
He smiled, and his eye kindled. "I shall not tell you, I see you do not know; I do not wish for you to know. But tell me now, will you not, do you enter the school this semester?"
"Yes, sir, I believe so,—at least, I came here on purpose; but Aronach does not tell us much, you know, sir."
"Is that tall young gentleman to enter?"
"Yes, sir,—Marc Iskar."
"And the least,—how do you name him?"
Like a flash of lightning a conception struck me through and through.
"Sir, he is called Starwood Burney, from England. How I do wish I might tell you something!"
"You can tell me anything; there is plenty of time and room, and no one to hear, if it be a pretty little secret."