HERBERT [_seemingly about to run madly into the face of the storm, but
recovering himself_]. I--oh--ah--I was just defending myself, you know.
But why wouldn't you care to marry one?
MINNIE [_sighing again_]. Oh, I don't know. I think I should be in
mortal terror all the time that he was just analyzing me and every one
of my motives.
HERBERT [_dreamily_]. I don't think you would have occasion. If he loved
you he couldn't----
MINNIE [_trying to laugh lightly and succeeding in emitting a rather
tame cackle_]. Love me! The idea! Who would ever love a spectacled old
thing like me?
HERBERT. Oh, you don't know, you know. Besides you shouldn't talk that
way about yourself.
MINNIE [_smiling full at him_]. I should tell the truth, shouldn't I?
HERBERT [_locking and unlocking his fingers_]. But it isn't the truth.
MINNIE [_looking down_]. Oh!
HERBERT [_with real courage_]. That's the truth! You see the difference,
don't you?
MINNIE. Well, I'd like to know what I am if I'm not that. No one ever
intimated before that I am anything else. My little brother has
maintained it ever since he learned to talk.
HERBERT. Well, you're not; you're---- [_He hesitates. Thereafter he
speaks quite as a locomotive puffs on a steep grade. There are two or
three large, lusty puffs followed by a chain of spasmodic little
puffs_.]
MINNIE [_encouragingly_]. Yes?
HERBERT. You're not! You're a--oh, don't you understand? I can't keep
from telling you any longer, really--I tried to in the carriage, but the
road was so bumpy, I---- It seems as though I must make you understand.
Please try to--I---- Don't you see! I care for you very, very much
and--I wrote my people all about it and--oh, don't you see, Miss---- I
mean Minnie---- I want to ask---- Will you----
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.