"You will be persecuted by suitors," Fox continued, "and I ask you is there any you know about here whom you would prefer to me?" She did not answer him, she was thinking, with her hood drawn by one hand very close about her face, that no one approaching, nor Fox, should see her distress. "Do not speak of others," said Bessie, at length; "sufficient to let things be till they come. I am, and you need not pretend it is not so--I am but a plain homely girl, and that will dampen the ardour of most young men who sigh for pretty faces." "You do yourself injustice, Bessie. For my part I look to the qualities of the heart and understanding, and you have a generous and noble heart, and a clear and sound understanding. Beauty withers, such qualities ripen. I never was one to be taken with the glitter of tinsel. I look to and love sterling metal. It was your good qualities which attracted my admiration, and, 'fore Heaven, Bess, I think you uncommon comely." "I pray you," urged Bessie, "desist from your suit. I have told thee it is fruitless." "But I will not desist without a reason. Give me a reason, and I am silent. Without one, I will press on. I have a better right than any of the unknown who will come about thee like horseflies after awhile." "I do not love thee. Is not that a reason?" "None at all. I do not see why thou mayest not come to like me." Bessie walked on some way in silence. Presently she said, in a plaintive, low voice: "I will give thee, then, a reason; and, after that, turn on thy heel and leave me in peace. I have--" Her voice failed her, and she stepped on some paces before she could recover it. "I tell thee this, Fox, only because thou hast been frank with me, and hast shown me a generous heart. My reason is this--and, Fox, there must, I reckon, be some confidence between two situated as we are--it is this, that long, long ago I did dearly love another, and I love him still." "Now, Bessie!" exclaimed Fox, standing still in the road, and she halted also, "you assured me that you had given your heart to none." "I have given it to none, for none asked it of me." "I do not understand. You speak riddles."