"
"Which you don't wear now, Diana!"
"Which you shall put back--one day--soon, Peregrine."
"Why did you take it off, Diana?"
"Because!" she answered.
"Because of--what?" I persisted.
"Just--because!" she answered in the old tantalising way. And so we
sat a little while looking into each other's eyes.
"By Goles!" exclaimed the Tinker so suddenly that we both started,
having clean forgotten him for a while. "'Tis good to be young, but
'tis better--aye, much better, to be in love, that it is! And--you may
be mighty fine folk up to London, but you'll always be just children
to me--my children o' the woods!"
"And so, Jerry, we'll stay with you until we are married if you'll
have us?"
"Have you?" he repeated, a little huskily. "Have you? Why, Lord love
ye--I feel that proud, an' s' happy as I don't know what--only--God
bless ye both--Amen!" So saying, he arose rather abruptly and hastened
off to harness Diogenes.
"Diana," said I, drawing her to me, "Diana, what do you mean by
'because'?" And standing submissive in the circle of my arms she
answered:
"Because you love me so truly, Peregrine, doubt cannot make you love
me less. But because of your doubt I have grieved, and because I
grieved I ran away, and because I ran away you came to find me, and
because of this I am happy. But because I am--a little proud also, I
will not wear your love-token until you know how unjust are your
doubts, and because I am a woman you shall not know this until I
choose.
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