and I found her at home on my coming down the second summer.
I was much there that year--it was a beautiful one; and we had,
in her off-hours, some strolls and talks in the garden--
talks in which she struck me as awfully clever and nice.
Oh yes; don't grin: I liked her extremely and am glad to this day
to think she liked me, too. If she hadn't she wouldn't have told me.
She had never told anyone. It wasn't simply that she said so,
but that I knew she hadn't. I was sure; I could see.
You'll easily judge why when you hear."

"Because the thing had been such a scare?"

He continued to fix me. "You'll easily judge," he repeated:
"YOU will."

I fixed him, too. "I see. She was in love."

He laughed for the first time. "You ARE acute.
Yes, she was in love. That is, she had been. That came out--
she couldn't tell her story without its coming out.
I saw it, and she saw I saw it; but neither of us spoke of it.
I remember the time and the place--the corner of the lawn,
the shade of the great beeches and the long, hot summer afternoon.
It wasn't a scene for a shudder; but oh--!" He quitted the fire
and dropped back into his chair.

"You'll receive the packet Thursday morning?" I inquired.

"Probably not till the second post."