"I don't mean--I mean--" he stammered.

"It was walking, of course--I mean we did go out walking but it wasn't walking like--like this." He concluded with a fit of coughing which seemed to rack him.
Dora threw back her head and laughed delightfully.

"Don't you apologize!" she said.

"_I_ didn't when I said it seemed to me that we've gone walking so often, when in reality it's only four or five times altogether.

I think I can explain, though: I think it came partly from a feeling I have that I can rely on you--that you're a good, solid, reliable sort of person.