He had stopped in the pathway, and she, unconscious of what she was doing, almost unconscious of what she was hearing, had stopped also.

The mare, taking advantage of the occasion, was cropping the grass close to them.

And so, for a few seconds, they stood in silence.
"Am I so bold, Lady Clara," said he, when those few seconds had gone by--"Am I so bold that I may hope for no answer ?" But still she said nothing.

In lieu of speaking she uttered a long sigh; and then Fitzgerald could hear that she was sobbing.
"Oh, Clara, I love you so fondly, so dearly, so truly!" said he in an altered voice and with sweet tenderness.

"I know my own presumption in thus speaking.