laughs when in love.

"Only a little farther," said Gretchen, for the vintner had never before
passed over this way.

"Long as it is and crooked, Heaven knows it is short enough!" He
encircled her with his arms and kissed her. "I love you! I love you!" he
said.

Gretchen was penetrated with rapture, for her ears, sharp with love and
the eternal doubting of man, knew that falsehood could not lurk in such
music. This handsome boy loved her. Buffeted as she had been, she could
separate the false from the true. Come never so deep a sorrow, there
would always be this--he loved her. Her bosom swelled, her heart
throbbed, and she breathed in ecstasy the sweet chill air that rushed
through the broken street.

"After the vintage," she said, giving his arm a pressure. For this
handsome fellow was to be her husband when the vines were pruned and
freshened against the coming winter.

"Aye, after the vintage," he echoed; but there was tragedy in his heart
as deep and profound as his love.

"My grandmother--I call her that for I haven't any grandmother--is old
and seldom leaves the house. I promised that after work to-night I'd
bring my man home and let her see how handsome he is. She is always
saying that we need a man about; and yet, I can do a man's work as well
as the next one. I love you, too, Leo!" She pulled his hand to her lips
and quickly kissed it, frightened but unashamed.