"You're wrong, Tom. It is worth it."
"What?"
"Why, the thing that makes a woman want to go into the woods with a man, even when there are no roads; the thing that makes her willing to pay before she knows."
Tom breathed hard.
"I suppose it is—love, Tom."
"It's something worse, often!" Gavot turned his eyes away from the upturned face.
"Lately, Tom," Donelle came close to him and touched his arm as she walked beside him, "I've been thinking about such a lot of new things and love among them."
"Love!" And now Tom stood still, as if an unseen blow had stunned him.
"Yes, and I had no one to talk to. I couldn't speak to Mamsey. Always I think of you, Tom, whenever thoughts come. You see everything, just as you see your roads in the deep woods. Are you tired, Tom?"
"No," Gavot got control of himself, "no, not tired."