“But what’s amiss?” he said. “It’s once in a while that way.”

“I⁠ ⁠… I can’t love you,” she sobbed, suddenly feeling her heart breaking.

“Canna ter? Well, dunna fret! There’s no law says as tha’s got to. Ta’e it for what it is.”

He still lay with his hand on her breast. But she had drawn both her hands from him.

His words were small comfort. She sobbed aloud.

“Nay, nay,” he said. “Ta’e the thick wi’ th’ thin. This wor’ a bit o’ thin for once.”

She wept bitterly, sobbing: “But I want to love you, and I can’t. It only seems horrid.”

He laughed a little, half bitter, half amused.