"It's I. And waiting for a girl like any yokel," and he laughed bitterly—a laugh Belinda did not like to hear. It was so dark she could not see her cousin's face; but she felt that he looked at her strangely.
"I want you to walk with me, 'Linda," he said suddenly, coming closer to her. "I wish to talk with you."
"On what subject, Paul? And where shall we walk? I am tired now and am ready for my tea and bed. There are no 'lovers' lanes' or other romantic walks about here."
"You laugh at me!" he ejaculated fiercely. "Ach! when did I let a girl laugh at me before? I did the laughing."
"Possibly they all laughed at you," she said, much amused.
"Ach! I left some of them in tears."
"I shall not weep, Cousin Paul, if you leave me now and let me go to my waiting tea."
"You do not know what you are doing to me," he cried under his breath, seizing her arm roughly. "I tell you, Belinda, I never met a girl before who so moved me. I—I am a cold-heart. No woman before ever mastered me as you have."
"Pooh, Paul! you have been aping your betters—or think you have. You have thought it smart to go about making love to village flirts. I know your kind. You have never loved anybody."
"I tell you——"