"You are a good, sweet, woman, Kathleen!" he said.
She laughed a little, very softly, "And you, Allan, have you nothing to tell me?"
"Nothing!" he said, yet hesitated and smiled to himself.
"I think there is something——" she said, "was there never even for a little while, someone!"
"Yes," he said, "a girl who called me her dear, who looked at me with loving tender blue eyes, who put her arms about my neck and kissed me——"
"Oh Allan, and yet——"
"Wait!" he said, he smiled, he still held her hand. "To me she was the most wonderful, the most lovely thing I ever saw, I loved her with all my heart——"
Kathleen would have drawn her hand away, gently, yet have drawn it away, but he, smiling down at her, would not let the little hand go.
"But she was not real, she was only a dream maiden. I never thought to tell anyone, Kathleen, but will you listen to me?"
"Yes!"