There was every invitation to spend one’s time out of doors, and Campbell passed long mornings in the park, or wandering through the woods or the surrounding villages. Miss Thayer often accompanied him. He never invited her to do so, but when she offered him her company, he could not, or at least did not, refuse it.
“May I love you? Say,” she entreated.
“‘Wenn ich Dich liebe, was geht ‘s Dich an?’” he quoted lightly. “Oh, no, it’s nothing to me, of course. Only don’t expect me to believe you—that’s all.”
This disbelief of his was the recurring decimal of their conversation. No matter on what subject they began, they always ended thus. And the more sceptical he showed himself, the more eager she became. She exhausted herself in endeavours to convince him.
They had reached the corner in
