"I do not understand, then."
"If you do not, how can I tell you what I mean?" She glanced at him and then looked away quickly, for she was blushing, and was ashamed of her boldness.
"Do you mean that I love you as I might a sister?" asked Gilbert, with the grave tactlessness of a thoroughly honest man.
The blush deepened in her cheek, and she nodded slowly, still looking away.
"Beatrix!"
"Well?" She would not turn to him.
"What have I done that you should say such a thing?"
"That is it!" she answered regretfully. "You have done great things, but they were not for me."
"Have I not told you how I have thought of you day after day, hoping that you might think well of my deeds?"
"Yes. But you might have done one thing more. That would have made all the difference."