"No; how could I?" she said earnestly. "If I were to save for two years,
I could not get francs enough to buy anything worth giving back; and I
should be so unhappy, thinking of the debt of it always. Do tell me if
you put those stockings there?"
"No"; he looked at her, and the trivial lie faltered and died away; the
eyes, clear as crystal, questioned him so innocently. "Well, if I did?"
he said, frankly; "you wished for them; what harm was there? Will you be
so cruel as to refuse them from me?"
The tears sprang into Bebee's eyes. She was sorry to lose the beautiful
box, but more sorry he had lied to her.
"It was very kind and good," she said, regretfully. "But I cannot think
why you should have done it, as you had never known me at all. And,
indeed, I could not take them, because Antoine would not let me if he
were alive; and if I gave you a flower every day all the year round I
should not pay you the worth of them, it would be quite impossible; and
why should you tell me falsehoods about such a thing? A falsehood is
never a thing for a man."
She shut the box and pushed it towards him, and turned to the selling of
her bouquets.
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