“Thee doesn’t know?”
“No.”
It seemed to Tom as though the beating of his heart would smother him: “Because,—because I love thee, Patty,” said he.
Patty’s head sunk lower and lower, but she neither moved nor spoke.
Then Tom said again, “I love thee, Patty.”
He waited for a while and then he said: “Won’t thee speak to me, Patty?”
“What does thee want me to say?” whispered she.
“Does thee love me?”
Silence.
“Does thee love me?”