"That's because my hair is red."
"It is a white r-rose that always figures in my mind. A beautiful white r-rose with a heart of gold."
By a dexterous touch upon one wheel he whirled his chair about so that he saw her downcast face.
"A heart full of goodness to others is it, and of courage, and of love."
He was leaning eagerly towards her. She lifted her eyes with an effort, and met his. Then he remembered.
"Yes," he continued, hurriedly, "full of love for the poor and the desolate."
Sydney rose.
"Your pretty figures do me too much honor," she said, unsteadily, and went into the house with lingering tread and look.
Friedrich gazed after her.
"God knows I would be counted among the poor and the desolate," he cried, softly, to himself. "But I must not speak again of this until I am more worthy to stand before her—if ever that can be!"