“Yes, dear.”
“I am quite sure I never met a girl I like as well.”
Helen laughed: “That is a trifle extravagant, isn’t it?”
“No.... I asked her to marry me.”
Helen’s heart stood still, then a bright flush stained her face.
“She refused me,” said the boy.
His mother said very quietly: “Of course this is news to us, Jim.”
“Yes, I didn’t tell you. I couldn’t, somehow. But I’ve told you now.”
“Dearest,” she said, dropping her hand over his, “don’t think me unsympathetic if I say that it really is better that she refused you.”
“I understand, mother.”