During the week that followed this letter, matters progressed rapidly.
The two Anglo-Saxons took lunch together every day, and by Friday the
relations between them were such that, as they pushed back their
chairs, Harrison said: "Excuse me, Miss Midland, for seeming to dictate
to you _all_ the time, but why in the world don't you go out after
lunch and take a half-hour's walk as I do? It'd be a lot better for
your health."
The English girl looked at him with the expression for which he had as
yet found no word more adequately descriptive than his vague "queer."
"I haven't exactly the habit of walking about Paris streets alone, you
know," she said.
"Oh, yes, to be sure," returned the American. "I remember hearing that
young ladies can't do that here the way they do back home. But that's
easy fixed. You won't be out in the streets, and you won't be alone, if
you come out with me in the little park opposite. Come on! It's the
first spring day."
Miss Midland dropped her arms with a gesture of helpless wonder. "Well,
_really_!" she exclaimed. "_Do_ you think that so much better?" But
she rose and prepared to follow him, as if her protest could not stand
before the kindly earnestness of his manner. "There!" he said, after he
had guided her across the street into the tiny green square where in
the sudden spring warmth, the chestnut buds were already swollen and
showing lines of green. "To answer your question, I think it not only
better, but absolutely all right--O.K!"
They were sitting on a bench at one side of the fountain, whose
tinkling splash filled the momentary silence before she answered, "I
can't make it all out--" she smiled at him--"but I think you are right
in saying that it is all O.K." He laughed, and stretched out his long
legs comfortably. "You've got the idea. That's the way to get the good
of traveling and seeing other kinds of folks. You learn my queer slang
words, and I'll learn yours."
Miss Midland stared again, and she cried out, "_My_ queer slang words!
What can you mean?"
He rattled off a glib list: "Why, 'just fancy now,' and 'only think of
that!' and 'I dare say, indeed,' and a lot more."
"But they are not queer!" she exclaimed.
"They sound just as queer to me as 'O.K.' and 'I guess' do to you!" he
said triumphantly.
She blinked her eyes rapidly, as though taking in an inconceivable
idea, while he held her fixed with a steady gaze which lost none of its
firmness by being both good-humored and highly amused. Finally,
reluctantly, she admitted, "Yes, I see. You mean I'm insular."
"Oh, as to that, I mean we both are--that is, we are as ignorant as
stotin'-bottles of each other's ways of doing things. Only I want to
find out about your ways, and you don't about----"
She broke in hastily, "Ah, but I do want to find out about yours!
You--you make me very curious indeed." As she said this, she looked
full at him with a grave simplicity which was instantly reflected on
his own face.
"Well, Miss Midland," he said slowly, "maybe now's a good time to say
it, and maybe it's a good thing to say, since you _don't_ know about
our ways--to give you a sort of declaration of principles. I wasn't
brought up in very polite society--my father and mother were Iowa
farmer-folks, and I lost them early, and I've had to look out for
myself ever since I was fourteen, so I'm not very long on _polish_; but
let me tell you, as they say about other awkward people, I _mean_ well.
We're both poor students working together in a foreign country, and
maybe I can do something to make it pleasanter for you, as I would for
a fellow-student woman in my country. If I can, I'd like to, fine! I
want to do what's square by everybody, and by women specially. I don't
think they get a fair deal mostly. I think they've got as much sense as
men, and lots of them more, and I like to treat them accordingly. So
don't you mind if I do some Rube things that seem queer to you, and do
remember that you can be dead sure that I _never_ mean any harm."
He finished this speech with an urgent sincerity in his voice, quite
different from his usual whimsical note, and for a moment they looked
at each other almost solemnly, the girl's lips parted, her blue eyes
wide and serious. She flushed a clear rose-pink. "Why!" she said, "Why,
I _believe_ you!" Harrison broke the tension with a laugh. "And what is
there so surprising if you do?"
"I don't think," she said slowly, "that I ever saw any one before whom
I would believe if he said that last."
"Dear me!" cried Harrison, gaily, getting to his feet. "You'll make me
think you are a hardened cynic. Well, if you believe me, _that's_ all
right! And now, come on, let's walk a little, and you tell me why
English people treat their girls so differently from their boys. You
are a perfect gold mine of information to me, do you know it?"
"But I've always taken for granted most of the things you find so queer
about our ways. I thought that was the way they were, don't you see, by
the nature of things."
"_Aha_!" he said triumphantly. "You see another good of traveling! It
stirs a person up. If you can give me a lot of new facts, maybe I can
pay you back by giving you some new ideas."
"I think," said Miss Midland, with a soft energy, "I think you can,
indeed."