“Then is it not better that I was raised somewhat after the manner of girls?” said Garde, complimented as much by the reverent tone in his voice as by what he had said. “Does not the rearing I have known serve some good purpose, if what you say is so?”
“By my faith, yes. But then you do admit that you were treated in your younger days, somewhat as a girl?”
“I hope it is no shame to confess this is so,” she answered, looking down on the ground to hide the dancing of her eyes. “I was treated somewhat in this manner and I was even dressed as a girl, at times.”
“Ah, that accounts for your bashfulness and so forth. But you need not blush for this. Bless your heart, a man’s the better for it, if he has something of the woman in his heart—and even in his hand.”
“I am glad to hear you say so,” murmured the girl.
“Oh, yes, it’s all right,” said Adam magnanimously. He looked at her with frank admiration. “Only it is something of a pity you were not a girl, you know.”
“Oh. But why?”
“Because you would be such an one as a man could love.”
“But not you, Adam Rust. You have said you love a sweetheart already.”
“I do—mightily! But if you were a girl I would enjoy finding a man worthy to love you.”