“Do not cry, dearest. Take your time.”

“I have been obstinate and silly⁠—worse than you know, far worse. Once by the river⁠—Oh, but he isn’t killed⁠—he wouldn’t be killed, would he?”

The thought disturbed her repentance. As a matter of fact, the storm was worst along the road; but she had been near danger, and so she thought it must be near to everyone.

“I trust not. One would always pray against that.”

“He is really⁠—I think he was taken by surprise, just as I was before. But this time I’m not to blame; I want you to believe that. I simply slipped into those violets. No, I want to be really truthful. I am a little to blame. I had silly thoughts. The sky, you know, was gold, and the ground all blue, and for a moment he looked like someone in a book.”

“In a book?”

“Heroes⁠—gods⁠—the nonsense of schoolgirls.”