"I am not afraid," Julia said with amusement. "Do you think I am afraid of rats?"
"Girls often are."
"Well, I am not," and it was clear from her manner that she spoke the truth.
"Would you be afraid to come out here alone?" he asked curiously.
"No," she said; "any night that you like I will come here alone, go through the barns and fasten the doors."
"I do not believe there are many girls who would do that," he said; he was thinking of Denah and Anna.
Julia told him there were plenty who would. As they came back, stopping to fasten each door after them, he remarked, "I think girls are usually brought up with too much protection; I mean girls of our class, they are too much shielded; one has them for the house only; if they were flowers I would call them stove-plants."
Julia laughed. "You believe in the emancipation of women then?" she said; "you would rather a woman could take care of herself, and not be afraid, than be womanly?"
"No," he answered; "I would like them to be both, as you are."
They had come outside now; she was standing in the misty moon-light, while he stayed to fasten the last door.