Greif smiled.

'Ah Hilda! Since we have been sitting here, you have told me you
thought I might change--do you not remember? Was what I said so much
worse than that?'

'Of course it was,' she answered. 'Ever so much worse.'

Thereupon Greif meditated for some moments upon the nature of woman,
and to tell the truth he was not so far advanced as to have no need for
such study. Finding no suitable answer to what she had said, he could
think of nothing better than to press her hand gently and stroke her
long straight fingers. Presently, the pressure was returned and Greif
congratulated himself, with some reason, upon having discovered the
only plausible argument within his reach. But his wisdom did not go so
far as to keep him silent.

'I think I understand you better than I did,' he said.

Hilda did not withdraw her hand, but it became again quite passive in
his, and she once more seemed deeply interested in the trees.

'Do you?' she asked indifferently after a pause.

'Perhaps I should rather say myself,' said Greif, finding that he had
made a mistake. 'And that is quite another matter.'

'Yes--it is. Which do you mean?' Hilda laughed a little.