"I was going to say something. It would have been most unmaidenly," she remarked.
"There's something in me that will not stay unsaid. I love you," he declared.
She held up her hand with a serious look in her eyes. Then, for a moment, the boy returned to the world of reality.
"I am sorry. Forgive me. I ought not to have said it," he stammered.
"But didn't you really mean it?" she asked with troubled eyes.
"I mean that and more, but I ought not to have said it now. It isn't fair. You have just escaped from a great danger and have got a notion that you are in debt to me and you don't know much about me anyhow."
She stood in his path looking up at him.
"Jack," she whispered. "Please say it again."
No, it was not gone. They were still in the magic garden.
"I love you and I wish this journey could go on forever," he said.