"Yes, dear, it does.... I care for you—and Geraldine—more than for anybody in the world. I understand your loyalty to me, Scott, and I—I love it. But don't confuse it with any serious sentiment."
"I do care seriously."
"You make me very happy. Care for me very, very seriously; I want you to; I—I need it. But don't mistake the kind of affection that we have for each other for anything deeper, will you?"
"Don't you want to care for me—that way?"
"Not that way, Scott."
"Why?"
"I've told you. I am so much older——"
"Couldn't you, all the same?"
She was trembling inwardly. She leaned against a white birch-tree and passed one hand across her eyes and upward through the thick burnished hair.
"No, I couldn't," she whispered.