She sits on the hearthstone by Dick’s feet.
Shyly, ‘Am I all right?’
It is Dick who answers. ‘You’re awfully pretty, Laura. You are even prettier than I thought. I remember I used to think, she can’t be quite as pretty as I think her; and then when you came you were just a little prettier.’
She has been warming her hands. ‘Why don’t you say anything?’ she asks Mr. Don.
‘I was thinking of you and Dick, Laura.’
‘What a pretty soul she has, father,’ says the boy; ‘I can see right down into it now.’
‘If Dick had lived, Laura, do you think that you and he——?’
With shining eyes, ‘I think—if he had wanted it very much.’
‘I expect he would, my dear.’
There is an odd candour about Dick’s contribution, ‘I think so, too, but I never was quite sure.’ They are a very young pair.