"I can't blame him, you know." He couldn't help this: the time, the place, the girl inspired, indeed incited, one to banality.
"Why?" she persisted.
"Oh, you know." He caught the intonation of her previous words precisely.
She had the grace to blush and hang her head; but he received a thrilling sidelong glance.
"Ah... aren't you awful to talk that way, Mr. Duncan?"
"Yes," he admitted meekly.
"Then you will join the choir?" she pursued, failing to fathom the meaning of that humble acquiescence. Any other boy or man of her acquaintance would have taken her remark as openly provocative.
"Oh, yes," he agreed listlessly.
"I'm so glad..."
He thanked her, but avoided her eye.