“Tell me frankly. Does it?”
“What on earth do you mean, Palla! Does it spoil me for you?”
“I’ve been thinking.... No, it doesn’t. But I wondered about you.”
He came over to where she stood.
“Dear,” he said unsteadily, “don’t you know I’m very desperately in love with you?”
At that she turned her enchanting little head toward him.
“If you are,” she said, “there need be nothing desperate about it.”
“Do you mean you care enough to marry me, you darling?” he asked impetuously. “Will you, Palla?”
“Why, no,” she said candidly. “I didn’t mean that. I meant that I care for you quite as much as you care for me. So you need not be desperate. But I really don’t think we are in love––I mean sufficiently––for anything serious.”