"I knew it was only a mood.

I knew you'd come.

I've such a sense of implicit reliance on you.
You are to me like the burr that shields the nut from all harm.

How secure and cozy and happy the nut must feel in its burr.

As I've walked through the woods in the autumn I've often thought of that, and how, if I ever married--" A wild impulse to seize her and crush her, as one crushes the ripe berry for its perfume and taste, flared in his eyes.