He had not found the slightest relief from the embarrassing ignorance
that enshrouded him. The girl's utter lack of coquetry, and her depth
of feeling, made his position even more complex than it might
otherwise have been.
"As you must know, I am talking in the dark," he continued after a
minute, "but this much I will venture to assert, that no act of mine
could be a sacrifice which would put my life in closer touch with
yours; for although it was only yesterday that we met for the first
time, I love you; and I loved you, Dorothy, from the instant I first
caught sight of you at the station. I do not pretend to explain this,
but have felt an overpowering passion from that moment."
"And you will not think me unmaidenly, Paul, if I say the same to
you?"
She made no effort to conceal her feelings, and they sat murmuring
sweet things into each other's ears until a green bird came
fluttering through the air, and lighting upon a bough just above
their heads, screamed: "Dorothy! Dorothy!"
It was a parrot, and there was something so uncanny in its sudden
appearance that Paul started: "He seems to be your chaperone!" he observed.
"He is my mascot!" cried Dorothy. "If it were not for his company, I
fear I should go mad. I am so lonely, Paul, you can not understand
it."
"Have you no neighbors?" he inquired.
"None within miles; and we live such a strange isolated life that
people are afraid of us."
Paul thought of the stage driver, and his look of horror on hearing
where he was going.
"I can't understand why people should be afraid of you simply because
you live alone," he said. "For my part, I think your life here is
most interesting. But you have not told me how I can help you."
"Nor can I yet," she answered. "There is a way, of course, but I can
not consent to so great a sacrifice from you; at least, not at
present."
"And would it compel me to leave you?"
"No; it would compel you to be with me always."
"And have you so little faith in me as to call that a sacrifice? I
did flatter myself that you believed what I told you just now."
"But, Paul, you do not know me. Wait until you do. Then, perhaps, you
will change your mind."