The girl laughed her delight in the extravagance. She must have been more or less than woman not to have found his flattery delicious. “But we are republicans!” she said in evasion.
“To be sure, we are republicans. Well, then, Miss Blood, answer your free and equal one thing: is it a case of conscience?”
“How?” she asked, and Staniford did not recoil at the rusticity. This how for what, and the interrogative yes, still remained. Since their first walk, she had not wanted to know, in however great surprise she found herself.
“Are you going to walk with me because you had promised?”
“Why, of course,” faltered Lydia.
“That isn't enough.”
“Not enough?”
“Not enough. You must walk with me because you like to do so.”
Lydia was silent.
“Do you like to do so?”