And there he and Beryl were constantly thrown together.

He never talked to her with much intimacy; he certainly never made love to her.

But suddenly she became aware that she had grown very necessary to him, that he missed her when she was away, that his eyes lit up when she came back.

A special relation was growing up between them.

Her father perceived it; so did her brother Arthur; and they had both done their best to help it on.
They were both very fond of Aubrey; and nothing could be more natural than that she should marry one who had been her neighbour and playmate from childhood.
The thing drifted on, and one day, in the depths of a summer beechwood, some look in the girl's eyes, some note of tremulous and passionate sweetness, beyond her control, in her deep quiet voice, touched something irrepressible in him, and he turned to her with a face of intense, almost hungry yearning, and caught her hands--'Dear--dearest Beryl, could you-- ?' The words broke off, but her eyes spoke in reply to his, and her sudden whiteness.