"Then please believe me, when I say it."
"But I do believe it. I..." He stammered and fell still.
"Because I do like you, Nat, very much, and—and it's very hard for me to know that folks think I'm pursuing you and that you're trying to avoid me."
"Josie!" he exclaimed reproachfully.
"Well, that's the way it looks," she affirmed plaintively. "You don't want it to, do you?"
"Why, no; of course I don't."
"Then why don't you stop it?" She watched his face, her manner coy and yielding. "Nat," she said in a softer voice, "if you like me as well as I like you——"
He moved away a pace or two. "Ah, child!" he said, with a feeling that the term was not misapplied, somehow, "you don't know what you're saying."
"Yes, I do." She pouted. "I don't believe you... care anything about me."
"Oh, Josie, please——"