"If Mrs. Chalmers does not object."
"May I ask her?"
"If you like."
"It is so good of you. I don't think I ever felt so happy in all my life as I do tonight. I have heard fellows speak of being drawn irresistibly to one at a first meeting, but I could never quite understand it before. I have been drawn to you by an impulse that I have no more power to control than I have over the action of the heart. I am egotistical enough to think you are not quite indifferent to me, as you have accepted my friendship so generously. Isn't it true?"
"Quite true."
"I'm so grateful! I wonder if you know what it means to a lonely fellow like me?"
"I ought. Am I not a lonely girl?"
"Yes; and it is so much harder for you than for me. I have knocked about the country more or less for the last ten years, not knowing one day what I should do the next. I've got an object in life now, and it seems very sweet."
"What is it?"
He colored swiftly and laughed shyly.