"Is it so hard, then?"
"Yes, harder than you know," he replied.
Then he wanted to know what Bennet looked like. I painted a flattering
picture. When was he coming? To Christmas dinner, I told him.
It was now very late, and I heard the clock in the hall strike twelve,
and I asked him if he heard the reindeer bells on the roof.
"Nora, I don't hear or see anything in the world but you," he replied.
"If that's so, you must be as much in love with me as I am with you," I
told him.
He said, "Nonsense," and looked around, as if he were going to put his
things on again.
"Stay over Christmas!" I begged, and after staring at me a moment, he
said:
"Very well, I will, then."
That made me tremendously excited. Mama came down the hall and called:
"Nora, aren't you in bed yet?" I called out:
"I'm going now." Then I seized his hand quickly, kissed it, and ran out
of the room to my own.