"A mere accident."
"I am glad to hear that."
"Why?"
"To tell the truth, I was afraid I had driven you out of the garden; I thought this constant meeting with one and the same person would have become quite intolerable to you."
"You are too modest, I am sure."
"No, do not laugh at me; I really thought so--yes, and worse still; you have become very silent since day before yesterday, and, as I fancied, especially reserved towards me. Nor did you give me my lesson in literature yesterday, which I anticipated with so much pleasure. Have I given you, unknowingly, cause to----"
"What can you mean?"
"Well, sometimes I say things that sound harsh or arrogant; at least I have been told so; but really I do not mean them----"
As Helen looked up at Oswald with her full, dark eyes, he stood before her utterly lost in admiration of her beauty, and in wonder at her sudden and inexplicable gentleness and sympathy.
"Why do you look at me so astonished?"