He carved a dust pattern with his stick quite nervously, daring no more to look at her eyes. He asked her name. "Peronella," she said. "And yours?" "My name is Norman." "Nor-mano, how nice!" said the girl, who seemed to think that this bashful northerner needed encouragement. "Normano. I shall always call you Normano." "Always?" said Norman, looking up quickly. The shameless maiden hung her head with a rosy blush as though she had been caught in an indiscretion,--as though the word had slipped from her unawares. But even at six in the morning, a sane though splendid hour, Norman, that reserved young Englishman, considered such encouragement sufficient. He went deliberately and took the pails off the girl's shoulders, as though he were going to help her, and the moment they had clattered on the road, he embraced this adorable girl from behind and kissed her ravenously. The kiss fell some two inches below her left ear. She stood very stiff, flushed and angry; but Norman simply maintained his pressure till her whole body unstiffened. Norman had adopted to good purpose the principle that returns the penny-in-the-grip machine and secures for Britain her extensive Empire. By this time they had become thoroughly nervous of each other. They sat down side by side on the wall near the spring. Norman ruffled his hair in embarrassment. Peronella murmured something about Fate. Norman inwardly disagreed; he did not think he ought to blame (or thank) Fate for the present contingency. "Where are you going to stay?" asked the girl at last. "As near you as possible." "But don't you really know?" "I know nothing. I am just a stranger, and I have come here for a ... for a ... damn," said Norman in English to himself, "what's the word for a holiday?--for a rest." "You don't look as if you wanted a rest, and you won't get it if you stay near me." "Not rest," said Norman, "not rest exactly, but ... amusement. O Peronella, you know how hard it is to talk a foreign tongue. I have learnt Alsandrian in a book, but I have never talked a word of it before." "You talk it very nicely indeed; it is charming to hear you. It is not at all pleasant for us to hear men from Ulmreich talking Alsandrian. They make a horrible harsh noise, although they talk very carefully. But I think the lazy way you pronounce your o's and e's is charming...." "_I_ think," said Norman, looking at his watch with a smile, "that it is just twenty minutes since I first saw you and already...." "Well?" "I love you very much." He meant only to say "I like you very much," but in southern lands the linguistic distinction does not exist. The girl seized him by the wrists. "Don't say things like that, you devil," she cried, "especially if you do not mean it. Yes, say it even if you do not mean it; I love to hear you saying it. But be very careful. We are not like heathen women." "I mean it!" said Norman, perforce.