blurting out:

"I say, does this bore you?"

And each time she answered quickly:

"No, no--go on."

They went back in the fallen night to the campus, and there he pointed
out the spot where he had stood and listened to the singing on the
Esplanade and made up his mind to return. All at once, his story ended
and he perceived, to his utter confusion, that he had been pouring out
his heart to some one whose face he couldn't see, some one who was
probably smiling at his impetuous confidence, some one whom he had met
only a few hours before.

"Oh, I say," he said in horror, "you must think me an awful fool to go
on like this."

"No."

"You made me tell you, you know," he said miserably, wondering what
she could think of him. "I never talked like this before--to any one.
I don't know what made me confide in you."

This was untrue, for he knew perfectly well what had led him to speak.
So did she and, knowing full well what was working in the tense,
awkward boy beside her, she had no feeling of offense, being at an age
when such tributes, when genuine, are valued, not scorned.

"I can just feel how you felt--poor boy," she said, perhaps not
entirely innocent of the effect of her words. "But then, you have won
out, haven't you?"

"I suppose I have," said Stover, almost suffocated by the gentleness
of her voice.

"Charlie's told me all about the rest," she said. "Every one looks up
to you now--it's quite a romance, isn't it?"

He was delighted that she saw it thus, secretly wondering if she
really knew every point that could be urged in his favor.

"I suppose I'll kick myself all over the lot to-morrow," he said,
choosing to be lugubrious.

"Why?" she said, stopping in surprise.

"For talking as I've done."

"You don't regret it?" she said softly, laying her hand on his arm.

Stover drew a long breath--a difficult one.

"No, you bet I don't," he said abruptly. "I'd tell you anything!"

"Come," she said, smiling to herself, "we must go back--but it's so
fascinating here, isn't it?"

He thought he had offended her and was in a panic.

"I say, you did not understand what I meant."

"Oh, yes, I did."

"You're not offended?"

"Not at all."

This answer left Stover in such a state of bewilderment that all
speech expired. What did she mean by that? Did she really understand
or not?

They walked a little way in silence, watching the lights that fell in
long lines across the campus, hearing through th