He did not answer. Nor did his eyes meet hers. They were fixed on
the moving ferns where the pheasant had disappeared.

Alice guessed. He had done it for the girl because he thought her
in love with his cousin. A warm glow suffused her. No man made
such a sacrifice for a woman unless he cared for her.

The meadow lark flung out another carefree ecstasy. The theme of
it was the triumphant certainty that love is the greatest thing in
the world. Jeff felt that it was now or never.

"I love you. It's been hidden in my heart more than eight years,
but I find I must tell you. All the arguments against it I've
rehearsed a thousand times. The world is at your feet. You could
never love a man like me. To your friends I'm a bad lot. They
never would consider me a moment."

Gently she interrupted. "Is it my friends you want to marry?"

The surprise of it took him by the throat. His astonished eyes
questioned for a denial. In that moment a wonderful secret was
born into the world. She held out both hands with a divine
frankness, a sweetness of surrender beyond words.

"But your father--your people!"

"'Where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my
people."' She murmured it with a broken little laugh that was a
sob.