His hands would have tightened on hers, but she drew them away.
"Oh, no, you wouldn't, Mr. Richard Kendrick," said she, as quietly as
one can whose breath comes with some difficulty after long-sustained
exertion. "By the time we reached--even the mouth of the river, you'd be
tired of my company."
"Should I? I think not. I've thought of nothing but you since the day I
saw you first."
"Really? That's--how long? Was it November when you came to help Uncle
Calvin? This is February. And you've never spent so much as a whole hour
alone with me. You see, you don't even know me. What a foolish thing to
say to a girl you barely know!"
"Foolish, is it?" He felt his heart racing now. What other girl he knew
would have answered him like that? "Then you shall hear something that
backs it up. I've loved you since that day I saw you first. What will
you do with that?"
She was silent for a moment. Then she turned, striking out toward home.
He was instantly after her, reached for her hands, and took her along
with him. But he forced her to skate slowly.
"You'll trample on that, too, will you?" said he, growing wrathful under
her silence.
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