She was seated opposite to him, with Brandon on the grass close to her.

In general they addressed each other merely by the Christian name, but just before John rose to take leave, Dorothea dropped her ball.

It rolled a little way, and pointing it out to Brandon with her long wooden knitting-pin, she said, in a soft quiet tone, "Love, will you pick it up ?" and Valentine, who had overheard the little speech, was inexpressibly hurt, almost indignant.

He could not possibly have told why, but he hoped she did not say that often, and when Brandon gave it into her hand again, and said something to her that Valentine could not hear, he felt almost as if he had been unkindly used, as if his feelings had been insulted, and he vowed that it should be a long time before he came to see them again.
"It won't do," he thought to himself.

"I see this means a great deal more than I ever thought it did.