"Well," she said smiling, "do you approve?"
He made no apology, for they understood each other too well, but instead accepted her question seriously.
"Entirely," he replied with an air of sincerity which forced the color into her face. "The expression of the mouth, the tilt of the head, the sparkle in the eyes,—all is perfection. But you suggested that we imagine ourselves back in Bermuda. For myself, I should not dare to try it, for it could never be the same."
"Should we want it to be?" she asked earnestly. "An experience repeated must have something added or it fails to satisfy. To be the same would bring disappointment. I've argued that all out with myself, so I'm sure I'm right."
"Why should you have done that?" he demanded.
"Because those were the most wonderful days I have ever known," she explained simply and without embarrassment. "I found myself wishing them back; then I realized that if I could have my wish gratified it wouldn't satisfy me. I was unhappy when I went down there for no reason in the world except that I couldn't seem to find my place. With all their love no one at home has ever understood me, and I had reached a point where I didn't understand myself. Then you gave me the chance to know Mr. Hamlen, and in what you said to him and to me I saw what happens when one has no anchorage. That was what had made me unhappy,—I was drifting horribly."
"You concealed it well," Huntington said. "All the time we were together I never suspected that you had a care in the world."
"That is a compliment to yourself," the girl answered. "With your optimism you draw out the best in every one. See what you did with Mr. Hamlen down there, and what you have done with him since! You are the most completely happy person I have ever met, and—don't scold!—I have tried to imitate you. I haven't been very successful yet, but I'm trying. Some time, when the supreme test comes, I shall accept it, and then you will see what your example has accomplished."
The sincerity of the girl's words made Huntington uncomfortable. At first it pleased him to discover how genuine was her respect, but as she continued he found himself embarrassed by the character she gave him.
"I shall begin to think myself somebody if you go on," he expostulated. "You are crediting me with attributes I don't seem to recognize."