"And you see I had to tell you first of all—you do see that, Vance? Because it seemed to me that life had slipped back again to that night when you said—oh, Vance, I could repeat to you every word you said! And I knew how you loved me and hated me while you said them—yet I was held fast. But now it's all over, and I'm free, free, free!" She sprang to her feet again. "What a child I must seem to you! And I'm older than you—and you let me go on talking all this nonsense… ."

He had tried his best to listen attentively to what she was saying; but it was drowned under a surge of joy. It was curious, how hard it was for him to follow the words of anyone too close to his soul for words to be needed. He wondered she did not feel that too—feel that the spring sunshine, and their sitting in it together, was enough for her as it was for him. He caught himself speculating whether, after all, they might not have made a dash for that bit of woodland—and then fixing his thoughts curiously on the long slender hands on her knee. He thought perhaps it was because, for so long, his mind had been all darkness and confusion, that the sudden clarity blinded him, made him want more time before he groped his way back to her. But no—the real trouble, he thought, was that most people took so long to discover the essential; wasted such precious moments clearing away rubbish before they got to the heart of a thing. All women were like that, he supposed—but what did it matter? Presently she would understand—would stop talking, and just let her hand lie in his. "It's so good, sitting here with you," he said. "I never thought we should."

"Oh, Vance … "

By and by, he reflected, there would be a thousand things to tell her; now he could only think of that spring wood, and the Fifth Symphony, and dawn over Thundertop… .

She seemed to understand; she sat down beside him again and gave him back her hand. But after a while the sun waned from the porch, and the chill of the afternoon air fell on them. She gave a shiver and stood up. "It will be dark soon—I must be going."

He looked at her in surprise; it was bewildering to him that the passing hour should still have rights over them. "Why can't you stay with me?" he said.