"Oh, there was no one else to see, except the captain. Brian and I have always been good friends; I think he was quite sorry to go away from me."
Comethup stirred the leaves impatiently with his foot. "I suppose--I suppose you're very--very fond of Brian?"
She laughed gayly, and twisted herself so that her skirt twirled about her. "Oh, yes," she said, "we got on very well together. He was always getting into trouble, poor boy, and then he used to come to me for advice. You see, I'd known him always; we met each other every day."
Comethup found himself making a rough calculation of what eight times three hundred and sixty-five would be, but checked himself in the midst of it to ask, "I suppose--you're ever so much fonder of him than you are of me?"
She laughed again, and took a step or two toward the house, then came back to him. "I didn't say so," she said, softly. "Besides, what does it matter?"
"Oh, nothing," said Comethup. "Only I should like you--I should like you to be fond of me; I should like----"
"I _am_ fond of you, Comethup," she said; and laughed again, in that provoking fashion she had. He laughed too, then, and held out his hand sheepishly.
She slipped her fingers round his, and drew nearer to him. "Don't be cross," she said, in a whisper. "I love all my friends. You may kiss me if you like."
She turned one cheek toward him, and he bent forward reverently and touched it with his lips. Then, waving her hand to him, she sped away between the trees toward the house. He stood for some moments looking after her, and then turned and walked back to the captain's cottage, with his head in a whirl. He was quite certain of two things: that 'Linda was the most beautiful woman in the world, and that he was desperately in love with her and would be prepared to face all things for her sake, and perform prodigies of valour for her, and go out, if need be, a lonely exile, carrying a broken heart in his bosom and a stern yet gentle face to his fellows--all of which he knew was the proper thing to do, from the manly standpoint, in the present state of his feelings.
He saw 'Linda almost every day during his stay in the old town; they walked and drove with the captain, and came, toward the end of the week, to renew something of the old happy familiarity of their childhood. Comethup suffered all the tortures and all the ecstasies of a boy in his condition; was set walking upon air by a word from her, or a pressure of her fingers; or was plunged into the depths of misery by a rebuff, however slight or meaningless. But, being young and wonderfully healthy, he slept well and did not lose his appetite; and the matter, serious as he thought it, had no great effect upon him.