“But I love her. I couldn’t give her to anyone else, and Fred Lansing is quite too attentive to her. Such cold-blooded chaps as he go off quick when they go at all,” he kept saying to himself, and jealousy of Fred Lansing had a good deal to do with his final decision. The village clock was striking one when they at last reached the Grey house. The moon was now a little past the zenith, and pouring a flood of light over everything. The piazza under the vines, with its rugs and chairs and table, where Louie kept her books and work when sitting there, looked very inviting, but Louie made no movement toward it. She was going into the house, when Herbert said to her: “Hold on a minute. Let’s sit here a while and talk. There’s a lot I want to say to you, and the night is too fine to go indoors.” He led her to a chair at the end of the piazza, where she sat down, and, leaning back in a reclining position, said: “I shall not stay here long, for I am half asleep and dead tired, so say what you have to say, quickly, and excuse me if I shut my eyes, my lids are so heavy. Don’t be too long and prosy. What is it? Nothing about that bank affair, I hope. I am sick and tired hearing of it.” Herbert would rather have looked into Louie’s eyes, which always inspired him, but he made no protest against her closing them, and thought how lovely she was with her long, dark lashes, resting on her cheeks and the light which came in patches through the vines making her face like a piece of marble. He wanted to kiss her, but the time had not come yet. She was queer about some things, and would resent it unless he had a right, which he meant to have before he left her. It was a little difficult to begin, and he was not quite sure whether he wanted to commit himself or not, but after sitting a few moments in silence, watching her and gloating over her beauty, which was sure to be his own if he chose, he put his hand on hers, which lay on the arm of the chair. She did not move or try to take it away, and, emboldened by this, he bent down and whispered: “Louie, I love you.” There was no sign that she heard, but of course she did, and he went on to say, that he had loved her ever since she was a little girl and chased him up the tree, when he was about to rob a bird’s nest. It was a boy’s love then, but now that he was nearly twenty, it was a man’s love he offered her. He laid great emphasis on the “man,” and told her that he wanted to be engaged—not openly at first, because his father (he called him the governor) had some unreasonable prejudices which must be overcome.