“But it was fine! We knew right away how we felt—about each other!”
“You wanted to take me on the carroussel, but I couldn’t go; I had to be in the shop. The old woman would have scolded.”
“No, I know it wouldn’t have done, Anna.”
She said softly and clearly, “But that is the only thing I’ve refused you.”
He kissed her again, on the lips and the eyes. “Adieu, darling little Anna. We must begin to say good-bye.”
“Oh, you will come back to-morrow?”
“Yes, of course, and day after to-morrow early, if I can get away.—But there is one thing I want to say to you, Anna. I am going, after all, rather far away. Amsterdam is a long way off—and you are staying here. But—don’t throw yourself away, I tell you.”
She wept into her apron, holding it up with her free hand to her face. “And you—and you?”
“God knows, Anna, what will happen. One isn’t young for ever—you are a sensible girl, you have never said anything about marriage and that sort of thing—”
“God forbid—that I should ask such a thing of you!”