"I--I." She looked up at him desperately. "I--well, I made you say it, didn"t I?"
"Did you want me to say it, dearest? Have you been waiting, too? How long have you--"
"Oh, a long time; since that night among the rose bushes at the parsonage."
"Since then?"
"Yes; that was why it didn"t break my pledge when you kissed me. Because I--was waiting then."
"Do you love me?"
"Oh, P"fessor, don"t make me say it right out in plain English--not to-night. I"m pretty nearly going to cry now, and--" she twinkled a little then, like herself, "you know what crying does to my complexion."
But he did not smile. "Don"t cry," he said. "We want to be happy to-night. You will tell me to-morrow. To-night--"
"To-night," she said sweetly, turning in his arms so that her face was toward him again, "to-night--" She lifted her arms, and put them softly about his neck, the laces falling back and showing her pink dimpled elbows. "To-night, my dearest,--" She lifted her lips to him, smiling.
THE END