“Do you like me a little better?”
“Rather. Friendly companionship is my chief idea of happiness, now that I am more or less tired of books.”
“Is it? May it be my good fortune to initiate you into a higher! You have everything to learn!”
“Have I? I wonder!”
“What do you mean by that? Have you ever been in love?”
“Not the least little bit!”
“You said that rather too vehemently. It is my turn to wonder.” This time he looked hard at her and his face was grim. He had a way of setting his jaw that reminded her of the man whose haunting memory had made her alternately happy and miserable during many long months. She looked away hastily.
“The kind of love you mean I have not the very least knowledge of. You must believe that.”
“Of what other kind, then?”
“Oh, all women dream, you know,” she said lightly. “They have a sort of ideal that consoles them for missing the realities of life. You come quite close to it,” and once more she sparkled her eyes at him.