Page:Willa Cather - The Song of the Lark.djvu/373

 forth in the air, fluttering her fingers,—"the feeling of starting out, early in the morning, to take my lesson."

"And you 've had everything out with him?"

"No, I have n't!"

"Have n't?" He looked up in consternation.

"No, I have n't!" Thea spoke excitedly, moving about over the sunny patches on the grimy carpet. "I 've lied to him, just as you said I had always lied to him, and that 's why I 'm so happy. I 've let him think what he likes to think. Oh, I could n't do anything else, Fred,"—she shook her head emphatically. "If you 'd seen him when he came in, so pleased and excited! You see this is a great adventure for him. From the moment I began to talk to him, he entreated me not to say too much, not to spoil his notion of me. Not in so many words, of course. But if you 'd seen his eyes, his face, his kind hands! Oh, no! I could n't." She took a deep breath, as if with a renewed sense of her narrow escape.

"Then, what did you tell him?" Fred demanded.

Thea sat down on the edge of the sofa and began shutting and opening her hands nervously. "Well, I told him enough, and not too much. I told him all about how good you were to me last winter, getting me engagements and things, and how you had helped me with my work more than anybody. Then I told him about how you sent me down to the ranch when I had no money or anything." She paused and wrinkled her forehead. "And I told him that I wanted to marry you and ran away to Mexico with you, and that I was awfully happy until you told me that you could n't marry me because—well, I told him why." Thea dropped her eyes and moved the toe of her shoe about restlessly on the carpet.

"And he took it from you, like that?" Fred asked, almost with awe.

"Yes, just like that, and asked no questions. He was hurt; he had some wretched moments. I could see him