He did not know why he was so fascinated by her.

She was very beautiful, but he had seen others equally beautiful, and with many more _agaceries_ calculated to set off the effect of their charms.
There was, perhaps, something bewitching in the union of the grace and loveliness of womanhood with the _naivete_, simplicity, and innocence of an intelligent child.

There was a spell in the shyness, which made her avoid and shun all admiring approaches to acquaintance.

It would be an exquisite delight to attract and tame her wildness, just as he had often allured and tamed the timid fawns in his mother's park.
By no over-bold admiration, or rash, passionate word, would he startle her; and, surely, in time she might be induced to look upon him as a friend, if not something nearer and dearer still.
In accordance with this determination, he resisted the strong temptation of walking by her side the whole distance home after church.

He only received the intelligence she brought respecting the panel with thanks, spoke a few words about the weather, bowed, and was gone.