“Only if you say so.”
“I did so want to help you! You seem so alone in this trouble! I thought you were going to give me an opportunity. I thought you would tell me how!” Her mobile lips puckered as the shadow of pain flitted across the light of her eyes.
“Elizabeth!” he called, holding out his hand.
“Why did you say that to me?” she cried, her youthful face deeply furrowed as though she had grown suddenly very tired.
“Because I could not help it. I’ve known so little of love in my life that since this has come to me it hurts like the turning of a knife. I’ve never been accustomed to human care like other men. Had I been, I should have been able to hide my feelings behind the screen of pretense. You asked me a while ago why I do not love and hate like other men. I do love, and I hate! I have been schooled all my life to hide my hates, but experience neglected me with the other. Elizabeth–––”
She drew farther from him.
“I don’t think I understand you,” she said, her eyes widening in the light of the moon till they appeared like two shining orbs. “Have I given you any reason to think of me like that?”
“No. But I thought–––”
She drew into the shadows that he might not see the rapid rise and fall of her bosom. “Forgive me, if I have!”