I'm glad the others have all gone on, for now you can help me
all you choose, and I shan't care."
He did help her, with a touch and freedom that grew into something
like caresses. He felt that he had revealed himself almost as
completely as if he had spoken his love, and that he had received and
was receiving more than encouragement. She did not rebuke his manner,
which was that of a lover. There was no committal in that, nothing
that could bind her. She permitted the avowal of his hope, that he
had been in her thoughts during his long absence, and the natural
inference that her hand was still free because of his hold upon her
heart. This belief filled him with gratitude, and inspired him, as she
intended it should, with generous thoughts and impulses toward her.
What if she did prefer to maintain a little longer the delicate half
reserve that precedes a positive engagement? It only insured that the
cup of happiness should be sipped and enjoyed more leisurely. She had
seen too much of life, and enjoyed too many of its pleasures, to act
with precipitation now. She understood him, and yet loved him well
enough to be jealous of one whom she believed that he regarded as a
sister. With amusement he thought: "She is not even that to me now.
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