At first it seemed as though she must resent his boldness; but she had made a friend of him these years past, and she knew he meant no rudeness.

In the past they had talked of things deeper and more intimate still.

Yet there was that in his words which touched a sensitive corner of her nature.
"Why should I be marrying ?" she asked presently.

"There was my sister's son all those years.

I had to care for him." "Ay, older than him by a thimbleful!" he rejoined.
"Nay, till he came to live in this hut alone older by many a year.