'That is it, Robert,' she said, making a prodigious effort to be calm and cool; 'you see, Robert, we have been so much together.'
'All our days, Ellinor!'
'Too much so—yes, all our days; so it never struck me that—that——'
'What, darling?'
'You cared for me in that way.'
'Indeed! Your doubts come too late.'
'Or I might have learned to care too,' she said, with confusion.
'You did love me, and care for me too, before that fellow Sleath came among us,' said Robert, gloomily; for it seemed hard indeed that, after the happiness of their boyhood and girlhood, after all the budding hopes of riper years, under this man's new and hateful influence, she made light of him and his love—mocked him, it seemed, laughed at him for being so foolish to care for her 'in that way,' as she phrased it.
'Robert,' said she, after a pause, 'why be so angry about a little flirtation?'
She spoke deprecatingly, and her face wore a sickly smile.