They sat down on the bench under the eaves, and Sidney told her about that summer when she and Harry had played together as children. Jane kept her large eyes fixed upon her all the time, and they seemed to be searching her and adding her up. By and by her solemnity relaxed and she smiled when Sidney did, and asked her questions here and there. When the story came to an end it was plain that she had made up her mind about her, and that her opinion was favourable. This was made more evident still when she said calmly: "I expect Harry will fall in love with you, if you’re here when he comes home." Sidney looked at her in surprise, and then laughed. "What an extraordinary girl you are!" she said. "You think of everything." Jane laughed too. She was feeling more and more at home with Sidney, who did not treat her as a child. "Would you like him to?" she asked. Sidney was unexpectedly silent and serious, and when she did speak, she did not answer Jane’s question. "Would you like to be friends?" she asked. "Real friends, I mean, so that we could tell each other things." "Of course I should," said Jane. "But I expect you’ve got lots of friends older than me, that you know much better. I’ve got hardly anybody, because there aren’t many people about here, and we don’t go away very often." "I always know at once if I’m going to like a person," said Sidney, "and I knew I should like you when I first saw you. We might see a good deal of one another when we come down to Poldaven; and I shall want a friend. I think it’s going to be rather difficult." Jane was enchanted at the offer of friendship. She admired Sidney tremendously, and to be on equal terms with her gave her a most gratifying sense of having left her childhood behind her. "Why do you think it is going to be difficult?" she asked, concealing her gratification. "Oh, because, because! Well, because of what you said just now. If you haven’t seen it already you will very soon. It’s what I’ve been brought down here for. They don’t say so, of course, but it’s plain enough to see. Of course I shall like Harry awfully, if he’s anything like he used to be. But you see I’m in love with somebody else. That’s the trouble." This was a confession worth having as an introduction to the proffered friendship. Jane didn’t know whether to be glad or sorry to hear it. She had accepted Sidney as a suitable person for Harry to fall in love with, but perhaps it would be of some advantage if she didn’t fall in love with him. There remained, however, the question of his falling in love with her. "Perhaps Harry ought to know that," she said after a pause. Sidney looked at her and laughed again. "You know Harry better than I do now," she said. "Do you think he’s likely to fall in love with me?" Jane considered this carefully. "I don’t know; I think I should if I was him," she said.