Blix drew his arm about her waist, and laid her cheek
upon his shoulder with a little caressing motion.
"And I do love you, dear," she said--"love you with all my heart.
And it's for always, too; I know that. I've been a girl until
within the last three or four days--just a girl, dearest; not very
serious, I'm afraid, and not caring for anything else beyond, what
was happening close around me--don't you understand? But since
I've found out how much I loved you and knew that you loved me--
why, everything is changed for me. I'm not the same, I enjoy
things that I never thought of enjoying before, and I feel so--oh,
LARGER, don't you know?--and stronger, and so much more serious.
Just a little while ago I was only nineteen, but I think, dear,
that by loving you I have become--all of a sudden and without
knowing it--a woman."
A little trembling ran through her with the words. She stopped
and put both arms around his neck, her head tipped back, her eyes
half closed, her sweet yellow hair rolling from her forehead. Her
whole dear being radiated with that sweet, clean perfume that
seemed to come alike from her clothes, her neck, her arms, her
hair, and mouth--the delicious, almost divine, feminine aroma that
was part of herself.
"You do love me, Condy, don't you, just as I love you?"
Such words as he could think of seemed pitifully inadequate. For
answer he could only hold her the closer. She understood. Her
eyes closed slowly, and her face drew nearer to his.
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