Page:The Star in the Window.pdf/109

Rh rough clothes, he was possessed of a certain fineness of feeling that knew by instinct how not to shock or offend. Even his occasional use of "miss" and "ma'am" did not jar on Reba. His grammatical errors were not glaring ones, but, if they had been, the rare quality of his infrequent speeches would have more than made up for whatever their handicap in the way of the words that clothed them.

Reba knew very little about him, when it came to actual facts, scarcely more than what he had told her the first night, and he knew even less about her; but neither probed nor questioned. Perhaps they both hesitated to disturb the almost dreamlike reality of their friendship

As time went on and the bi-weekly meetings became more and more fraught with significance, Reba became a little troubled, anxious; and yet she let herself drift. New as she was in affairs of this sort, she was as loath to show her ignorance as an inexperienced traveler who shrinks from asking questions. She preferred to err, take a wrong turn or two, than to appear ridiculous. She told herself that her new acquaintance might be unaware of a deepening significance in their relations. She was so in the habit of feeding her soul on improbabilities that doubtless now she was imagining absurdities about his innocent friendliness.

For instance, she herself was keenly aware that of late his coat more than barely grazed her sleeve. She could feel his warm arm. But perhaps he did not feel hers. She was acutely conscious of the time when their feet first came in contact down there in the dark, underneath the seats. But perhaps he was not