At nine o’clock he was waiting under the elder-bush, in a state of high trepidation, but feeling that he was worthy, having a sense of his own wonder. She was late. At a quarter-past nine she came, flitting swiftly, in her own eager way.

“No, she would not go to sleep,” said Paula, with a world of wrath in her tone. He laughed bashfully. They wandered out into the dim, hillside field.

“I have sat — in that bedroom — for an hour, for hours,” she cried indignantly. She took a deep breath: “Ah, breathe!” she smiled.

She was very intense, and full of energy.

“I want” — she was clumsy with the language — ”I want — I should laike —