"Because there is a glamour about a beautiful girl," he said gravely. "One has to step into the halo to see her, to know her. Are you contented to look at a flower from a distance? That's an old comparison, isn't it? But there is something like a fragrance about you, Nelly Lebrun. Don't be afraid. No one can hear; no one shall ever dream I've said such bold things to you. In the meantime, we have a truth party. There is a fragrance, I say. It must be breathed. There is a glow which must touch one. As it touches me now, you see?"
Indeed, there was a faint color in his cheeks. And the girl flushed more deeply; her eyes were still bright, but they no longer sharpened to such a penetrating point. She was believing at least a little part of what he said, and her disbelief only heightened her joy in what was real in this strangest of lovemakings.
"I shall stay here to learn one thing," she said. "What deviltry is behind all this talk, Mr. Donnegan?"
"Is that fair to me? Besides, I only follow a beaten trail in The Corner."
"And that?"
"Toward Nelly Lebrun."
"A beaten trail? You?" she cried, with just a touch of anger. "I'm not a child, Mr. Donnegan!"
"You are not; and that's why I am frank."
"You have done all these things—following this trail you speak of?"
"Remember," said Donnegan soberly. "What have I done?"