She was silent, looking up at him and smiling gravely into his face. The trees about them seemed almost to have hushed their whispering and their rustling, to hear what the two had to say.
“Do you remember,” he went on almost in a whisper, “how I found you here first, and how you—you kissed me when I left you?”
She shook her head and laughed. “No, I surely didn’t do that. And if I did—well, we were very young—mere babies, you know.”
“’Linda, don’t laugh at me. We’re not children any longer; but I’ve never ceased to think of you, never ceased to—to love you. I think—in fact, I know—that I came here to-night to tell you that; I think I’ve tried—tried very hard—to tell you several times before. Only I was afraid that you wouldn’t listen to me.”
She lifted the hands she held and laid them for a moment against her cheek, then looked up at him. “Why should I not listen?” she asked gently.
“Oh, because I didn’t think it was possible that you would care anything for me. You see I’m only a big, rough fellow; I’m not even clever, or anything of that kind, but I——”
She slipped one hand from his grasp and laid it quickly on his lips. “Hush! you are the best fellow in the world,” she said. “I think I’ve always seemed to turn to you and think of you most naturally when I wanted help or consolation; in the dullest and the weariest hours I think you’ve seemed to smile at me and make me stronger. Oh, are you sure you love me?” She laid the hand that had touched his lips upon his shoulder and looked up into his eyes; her lips were quivering.
“Dear,” he said, “I’m quite sure; I love you with all my heart and soul. I know I’m young, but I’ve never seemed to think about anybody else; there has never been any one else. It’s always been little ’Linda in the garden; I’ve always felt your arms about my neck, just as you put them when we were children.”
She slipped them round his neck now. “See, they are there again,” she whispered. “But, oh, are you sure, quite sure, that you will never change; that you will love me always?”
“Always,” he replied simply. “I couldn’t change.” He bent his head and kissed her; and she clung to him, sighing a little and glancing behind her at the shadows among the trees. “You’re frightened, dear,” he said. “What is it?”