 himself with doing this bit of playful work. But Dinah did not
look at him - it was easy for her to avoid looking at the tall man; and when at
last there was no more dusting to be done, and no further excuse for him to
linger near her, he could bear it no longer, and said, in rather a pleading tone
- »Dinah, you're not displeased with me for anything, are you? I've not said or
done anything to make you think ill of me?«
    The question surprised her, and relieved her by giving a new course to her
feeling. She looked up at him now, quite earnestly, almost with the tears
coming, and said -
    »Oh, no, Adam! how could you think so?«
    »I couldn't bear you not to feel as much a friend to me as I do to you,«
said Adam. »And you don't know the value I set on the very thought of you,
Dinah. That was what I meant yesterday, when I said I'd be content for you to
go, if you thought right. I meant, the thought of you was worth so much to me, I
should feel I ought to be thankful, and not grumble, if you see right to go
away. You know I do mind parting with you, Dinah?«
    »Yes, dear friend,« said Dinah, trembling, but trying to speak calmly, »I
know you have a brother's heart towards me, and we shall often be with one
another in spirit; but at this season I am in heaviness through manifold
temptations; you must not mark me. I feel called to leave my kindred for a
while; but it is a trial: the flesh is weak.«
    Adam saw that it pained her to be obliged to answer.
    »I hurt you by talking about it, Dinah,« he said: »I'll say no more. Let's
see if Seth's ready with breakfast now.«
    That is a simple scene, reader. But it is almost certain that you, too, have
been in love - perhaps, even, more than once, though you may not choose to say
so to all your feminine friends. If so, you will no more think the slight words,
the timid looks, the tremulous touches, by which two human souls approach each
other gradually, like two little quivering rain-streams, before they mingle into
one - you will no more think these things trivial
