"Whom do you fear ?" "Fear!" she echoed, starting and staring in his direction.

"Why, I fear nobody! What--what makes you think that ?" "Because it has lately struck me that you meet me in secret because--well, because you are afraid of someone, or do not wish us to be seen." "Why, how very foolish!" she laughed.

"Don't my father and mother both know that we love each other?
Besides, I am surely my own mistress.

I would never marry a man I don't love," she added in a tone of quiet defiance.
"And am I to take it that you really do love me, after all ?" he inquired very earnestly.
"Why, of course," she replied without hesitation, again placing her arm about his neck and kissing him.

"How foolish of you to ask such a question, Walter! When will you be convinced that the answer I gave you long ago was the actual truth ?" "Men who love as fervently as I do are apt to be somewhat foolish," he declared.
"Then don't be foolish any longer," she urged in a matter-of-fact voice, lifting her lips to his and kissing him.