'I will not be stared at like a bearded woman or a spotted boy at a show. Why have you pursued me?'
'I have not pursued you. I will not say that I was not thinking of you as I came along the lane and stumbled on you, for I was.'
'And what, pray, were your thoughts? Here is a penny to pay for them, though I warrant that it is beyond their worth.'
'I was thinking of you. Yes. I saw that you were not enjoying yourself.'
'I was enjoying myself bravely.'
'No, you were not. You were vastly unhappy. I saw how your mouth worked. You came away, not because I stared you out of countenance, but because you could no longer restrain your tears.'
'It is false. I came away because I would not be exposed to any rude Peeping Tom.'
'Peeping Jack saw you—naked as Godiva—that is your bruised and wretched soul, that was bare to me. I saw how it suffered.'
She stamped, but said nothing. Her bosom was heaving with passion, but she switched to and fro with the thorn branch as a precaution lest he should approach; then she turned and struck at the improvised gate as though she must strike something; after that, feeling that her courage would give way unless she looked the lad full in the face, she reverted to her former position, fronting him.