HERBERT [_gazing into space_]. I don't think two people ought to be alike---- [_He catches himself, stares at the moon and whistles without whistling. Minnie regards him curiously from the end of her eye._] MINNIE [_examining the cuff of one sleeve_]. What do you mean by that? HERBERT [_again floundering_]. I--oh--ah--I was just thinking---- We had a lecture on some such subject in psychology the other day. MINNIE [_with a little sigh_]. Do you enjoy psychology? HERBERT. Very much. MINNIE. Have you ever made any experiments? HERBERT. Only a few, just the more common ones. I've only had one course in it, you see. MINNIE [_making a thrilling conversational leap_]. I've no doubt it is all very fascinating, but I don't think I should care to marry a psychologist. HERBERT [_quickly; edging nearer_]. But I'm not a psychologist! I'm a botanist. MINNIE [_very softly; looking away_]. What do you mean--I---- HERBERT [_seemingly about to run madly into the face of the storm, but recovering himself_]. I--oh--ah--I was just defending myself, you know. But why wouldn't you care to marry one? MINNIE [_sighing again_]. Oh, I don't know. I think I should be in mortal terror all the time that he was just analyzing me and every one of my motives. HERBERT [_dreamily_]. I don't think you would have occasion. If he loved you he couldn't---- MINNIE [_trying to laugh lightly and succeeding in emitting a rather tame cackle_]. Love me! The idea! Who would ever love a spectacled old thing like me? HERBERT. Oh, you don't know, you know. Besides you shouldn't talk that way about yourself. MINNIE [_smiling full at him_]. I should tell the truth, shouldn't I? HERBERT [_locking and unlocking his fingers_]. But it isn't the truth. MINNIE [_looking down_]. Oh! HERBERT [_with real courage_]. That's the truth! You see the difference, don't you? MINNIE. Well, I'd like to know what I am if I'm not that. No one ever intimated before that I am anything else. My little brother has maintained it ever since he learned to talk. HERBERT. Well, you're not; you're---- [_He hesitates. Thereafter he speaks quite as a locomotive puffs on a steep grade. There are two or three large, lusty puffs followed by a chain of spasmodic little puffs_.] MINNIE [_encouragingly_]. Yes? HERBERT. You're not! You're a--oh, don't you understand? I can't keep from telling you any longer, really--I tried to in the carriage, but the road was so bumpy, I---- It seems as though I must make you understand. Please try to--I---- Don't you see! I care for you very, very much and--I wrote my people all about it and--oh, don't you see, Miss---- I mean Minnie---- I want to ask---- Will you----