He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it.
"You are a good, sweet, woman, Kathleen!" he said.
She laughed a little, very softly, "And you, Allan, have you nothing to tell me?"
"Nothing!" he said, yet hesitated and smiled to himself.
"I think there is something——" she said, "was there never even for a little while, someone!"
"Yes," he said, "a girl who called me her dear, who looked at me with loving tender blue eyes, who put her arms about my neck and kissed me——"
"Wait!" he said, he smiled, he still held her hand. "To me she was the most wonderful, the most lovely thing I ever saw, I loved her with all my heart——"
Kathleen would have drawn her hand away, gently, yet have drawn it away, but he, smiling down at her, would not let the little hand go.
"But she was not real, she was only a dream maiden. I never thought to tell anyone, Kathleen, but will you listen to me?"
And so, still holding her hand, he told her.
"That was a very wonderful dream, Allan," she said.
"It was a very wonderful dream, and when I looked about me and saw all the weeds and the desolation, then I felt as if I had lost something—as if——"
"I understand!" she said. She was pensive and thoughtful. "What can it mean? Why should such a dream be sent to you? There was some meaning behind it, something—I wish I knew!"
"It was only a dream, and I am trying to forget it, perhaps I have nearly forgotten it—the sense of loss is passing away—not quite——"
She looked at him. "It will never quite pass, I think," she said. "Allan," she hesitated, "Allan, if—if it ever became real, if someone else, someone who awakened your heart ever came into your life——"
"No, no, listen, I want you to promise me something, to promise me on your honour, and I know that I can trust that—if such a thing comes to you, if the real love that may come that comes into nearly every man’s life does come—Allan, will you tell me, frankly, as one friend to another, will you tell me, dear?"
"I promise," he said, "and you, Kathleen!"
"It—it came—it can never come again—I was only a child, but he was all my world. I have never seen him since and shall never see him again——"
"But if you did—then will you tell me, will you be less frank with me than I with you?"