"Isn't it?"
"No."
They had lifted their heads now, facing each other in the violet dusk. Between them the scent of heliotrope grew sweeter. He said:
"I've been all kinds of a fool. For all I know women have as many rights on earth as men have. All I wish is that the plucky girl who took that hedge, banner in hand, were well and happy and married to a really decent fellow."
"But—she loves you."
"And I"—he looked up, encountering her blue eyes—"am already hopelessly in love. What shall I do?"
She said under her breath: "God knows. . . . I can not blame you for not wishing to marry a lame girl——"
"It isn't that!"
"But you wouldn't anyhow——"
"I would if I loved her!"