William stared at her in horror.
“You—you do like me, don’t you?”
William was silent.
A large shining tear welled over and trickled down the small pink cheek.
“You’re making me cry,” sobbed Violet Elizabeth. “You are. You’re making me cry, ’cause you won’t say you like me.”
“I—I do like you,” said William desperately. “Honest—I do. Don’t cry. I do like you. Honest!”
A smile broke through the tear-stained face.
“I’m tho glad,” she said simply. “You like all little girlth, don’t you?” She smiled at him hopefully. “You do, don’t you?”
William, pirate and Red Indian and desperado, William, woman-hater and girl-despiser, looked round wildly for escape and found none.
Violet Elizabeth’s eyes filled with tears again.