MINNIE [_they are very close. She looks up at him feelingly_]. Herbert! [_The moon, aghast, dazed, thrown into a veritable spasm of lunar consternation, darts behind a cloud. But these two do not notice. The moon is forgotten--all is forgotten--the stars, the earth, the hour--even botany! Their heads are near together; thus they remain a long time, without speaking. The katydid has ceased again her dismal song, and long since the cat slunk away behind the grape-trellis to seek new fields. The intense stillness of the hour absorbs them and makes them a part of itself. After a myriad æons a bird, somewhere, pipes a warning note, which is taken up by another bird. The couple on the further porch stir. Her head has been resting against his shoulder and for a little time she has slept. In one hand he holds a bit of angel's food, left over from the luncheon, which he from time to time has nibbled indifferently._] JAMIE [_flinging the cake away and stretching_]. Gee whiz! HILDA [_starting, sleepily_]. Wha--what is it? JAMIE [_grumblingly_]. Aw, nothin', I just wish they'd come, that's all. HILDA [_plaintively_]. Aren't you happy, dear? JAMIE [_yawning_]. Oh, I'm happy enough, I suppose, but this porch isn't exactly downy; I feel as though I'd been sitting here a month. HILDA [_sighing_]. Well I can't see where they are, either--for the life of me. JAMIE [_bitterly_]. The darned fools! HILDA [_with horror_]. Jamie! JAMIE. Well, aren't they? HILDA [_with some show of spirit_]. No, they're not; and if you're so sick of sitting here, why don't you go home; I can wait. I'm not afraid. JAMIE [_yawning again_]. Don't be silly. HILDA. It seems to me you're the silly one; just as though you couldn't---- JAMIE [_impatiently_]. Well, if you think it's fun sitting here all night waiting for two soft heads that don't know enough to ache when they're in pain, you're _mistaken_; that's all. HILDA [_moving away from him_]. I should think you'd be ashamed! JAMIE [_with rising impatience_]. That's right; now get _mad_! HILDA. I'm not mad; so there! But--I---- [_She begins to sniffle suspiciously. For some time neither speaks. The moon has waned and a strange, new light, of a sickly cast, is rising in the eastern sky. A restless bird in a tree near by pipes one nervous note; then all is silence again._] JAMIE [_stretching and again yawning_]. What are you crying about? HILDA [_swallowing two or three times, chokingly_]. I--I--I'm not crying---- JAMIE [_indifferently and quite as though he felt he must say something_]. You are, too; what about? HILDA. Nothing. JAMIE. [_He mutters._] HILDA. What did you say? JAMIE [_doggedly_]. I didn't say anything. HILDA [_coming a little closer_]. You did, too, and I want to know what it was. JAMIE [_impatiently_]. I didn't say anything, I tell you! HILDA [_choking up again_]. That's right; now be ugly; just as though it were my fault; when you yourself suggested that we sit here.