"It seemed so, but ... that's all right. Why shouldn't you?"
She turned to him, trembling a little. "Must I tell you, Nat?"
"O, no!" he cried in dismay. "Please don't——!"
"I see I must," she persisted. "You're so blind. It——"
"Josie, don't say anything you'll be sorry for," he entreated wildly.
"I can't help it: I've got to. It was—it was because I wanted to be with you.... There!" she gasped, frightened by her own forwardness.
"Now I've said it!"
Duncan grasped frantically at straws. "But you don't really mean it, Josie: you know you don't," he floundered. "You're just saying that because you—you have such a kind heart and—ah—don't want to hurt me—ah—because——"
She stemmed the flood of his protestations with a hand on his arm. "Nat," she said gently, looking up into his face, "would it make you happy to know I really meant it?"
"Why—ah—why shouldn't it, Josie?"