She drew her hands away and spoke softly.
“I dreamed that you would come back. With my eyes open and with my eyes shut, I dreamed that you would come back.”
Robert’s heart leaped at her speech.
“Are you glad to see me?” he questioned, tenderly.
The girl responded with the frankness of a child.
“Very glad. I liked you much that day when we met in the woods hollow, and those whom I like I am always glad to greet.”
Robert took her hand again, and this time she suffered him to hold it for a little, unresisting, as he led her to where a fallen column at the edge of the pine wood offered a noble throne.
“Would you have grieved if I had not come again?” he asked her, as they sat side by side, and the girl answered, simply:
“Much, for my own sake and for yours.”
“For mine, too, maiden?” Robert asked, wondering at her words.