e _me_," answered Letty, as if everybody must
give back love for love.

Tom took her again in his arms, and Letty was in greater bliss than she
had ever dreamed possible. From being a nobody in the world, she might
now queen it to the top of her modest bent; from being looked down on
by everybody, she had the whole earth under her feet; from being
utterly friendless, she had the heart of Tom Helmer for her own! Yet
even then, eluding the barriers of Tom's arms, shot to her heart, sharp
as an arrow, the thought that she was forsaking Cousin Godfrey. She did
not attempt to explain it to herself; she was in too great confusion,
even if she had been capable of the necessary analysis. It came,
probably, of what her aunt had told her concerning her cousin's opinion
of Tom. Often and often since, she had said to herself that, of course,
Cousin Godfrey was mistaken and quite wrong in not liking Tom; she was
sure he would like him if he knew him as she did!--and yet to act
against his opinion, and that never uttered to herself, cost her this
sharp pang, and not a few that followed! To soften it for the moment,
however, came the vaguely, sadly reproachful feeling, that, seeing they
were about to send her out into the world to earn her bread, they had
no more any right to make such demands upon her loyalty to them as
should exclude the closest and only satisfying friend she had--one who
would not turn her away, but wanted to have her for ever. That Godfrey
knew nothing of his mother's design, she did not once suspect.

"Now, Tom, you have seen me, and spoken to me, and I must go," said
Letty.

"O Letty!" cried Tom, reproachfully, "now when we understand each
other? Would you leave me in the very moment of my supremest bliss?
That would be mockery, Letty! That is the way my dreams serve me
always. But, surely, you are no dream! Perhaps I _am_ dreaming, and
shall wake to find myself alone! I never was so happy in my life, and
you want to leave me all alone in the midnight, with the moon to
comfort me! Do as you like, Letty!--I won't leave the place till the
morning. I will go back to the rick-yard, and lie under your window all
night."

The idea of Tom, out on the cold ground, while she was warm in bed, was
too much for Letty's childish heart. Had she known Tom better, she
would not have been afraid: she would have known that he would indeed
do as he had said--so far; that he would lie down under her window, and
there remain, e