"I do. I know—nothing about—love—real love."
"Can you not imagine it, dear?"
"I—it is what I have imagined—a man—like you—coming this way into my loneliness. I recognize it. I have dreamed that it was like this. What is it that I should do—if this is really to come true?"
"Love me."
"I would—if I knew how. I don't know how," she said wistfully. "My heart is so full—already—of your goodness—I—and then this dream I have dreamed—that a man like you should come here and say this to me——"
"Is it in you to love me?"
"I'll try—if you'll tell me what to do—how to show it—to understand——"
He drew her closer, unresisting, and looked deep into her young eyes, and
kissed them, and then her lips, till they grew warmer and her breath came fragrant and uneven.
"Can you love me?"