IN THE SHADOW
and unhappy, and were worse friends than ever before in the most wretched moments of misunderstanding, because there had been present an odd new element of constraint. In a drawing-room Giles would have told his love like a schoolboy attempting to recite a half-learned piece of elocution. He needed the sky over his head and the ground under his feet and the strain of many pounds on his strong muscles. He realized this, but now that such conditions were about him, to talk of love seemed an insult in the face of friendship, so he bent the punt pole to the point of breaking, and felt unhappy and wishful to go ashore and tear up a tree by the roots. Then perversity settled on Virginia and as they glided swiftly on the current for perhaps a furlong with no word spoken, she grew suddenly vexed. Giles was stupid; donkeys were strong; he was bored, no doubt, and in her presence. She was divided between resentment and a strange new shyness which grew as they drifted on in silence, and finally became quite insupportable. She looked away from Giles, toward the shore, and presently discovered that there were many wild flowers growing near the bank.
"Please land me here!" she said imperiously; "I want to gather some of those flowers."
"Oh, I wouldn't bother with them now, Ginny," said Giles, inadvisedly, his mind intent on the fish.
"May I not gather some flowers if I like?" asked Virginia sharply. Giles stared at her in bewilderment.
"Of course, Ginny," he answered, surprised; "but I will land you higher up, as I don't care to cross the river so close to the weir; it's just below this bend."
"What is the danger?" asked Virginia coldly.
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