“I shall be very careful what I say after this.”
“Not on my account, I beg? I like to hear you think aloud as you do, for your words have so stirred my own thoughts, Miss Darcy, that I have been anxious to hear you talk again.”
Kate swung more and more slowly with eyes half closed, like one indulging in a dream.
“Tell me,” continued the doctor, looking down into her face, “are you perfectly happy within yourself. Have you no longing for the society of others, and is this idle life of yours all that you wish for?”
Kate could not answer this man lightly, she felt that if she were false to him in the slightest degree, she would become less womanly in her own, as well as his eyes. Avoiding his glance, she answered:
“The idle life I am leading is a life full of thought. My mind is constantly absorbing everything I see. All these strange creatures around me are a study. I have not been as idle as you think during my stay in Bloemfontein. I have been pinning some leaves together.”
“Pinning leaves together! Am I among those leaves?”
“Yes, but I have turned your particular leaf, with a few others, down for future reference.”
“What will you do with the remaining leaves?”
