Happy! How can I be happy?
And when he was gone, I went somewhere and fell down and cried--somewhere where nobody could see me.

He's gone, Lyddy! How am I to live without him ?' They held each other.

Thyrza sobbed out her anguish until strength failed, then lay in her sister's arms, pale as a corpse.
When there had been utter silence for a while, Lydia asked: 'And he has never said anything to you that--that he oughtn't to have said!' 'Said?
What did you think?
You thought he--he loved _me_ ?' 'I didn't know, dearest.' 'Oh, if he did! He asked me not to call him 'sir,' and to be his friend--never more than that.

You thought he loved me?
How could he love a girl like me, Lyddy ?' Lydia had followed the unfolding of the tale with growing surprise.

It was impossible to doubt Thyrza's truthfulness.