work about the
place. Really, Mr. Ripley, you ought not to have to--"

I was humbled, abashed. She had seen me at my morning devotions, and
this was the way she interpreted them. She considered me an overnice
fellow who was so desperately afraid his place would be injured that he
came sneaking around every morning to see if any damage had been done
and to put things to rights.

She stood for a moment as if expecting me to speak, brushed a buzzing
fly from her sleeve, and then, looking at me with a gentle smile, she
turned a little as if she were about to leave.

I could not let her go without telling her something. Her present
opinion of me must not rest in her mind another minute. And yet, what
story could I devise? How, indeed, could I devise anything with which
to deceive a girl who spoke and looked at me as this girl did? I could
not do it. I must rush away speechless and never see her again, or I
must tell her all. I came a little nearer to her.

"Miss Vincent," said I, "you do not understand at all why I am
here--why I have been here so much--why I did not go to Europe. The
truth is, I could not leave. I do not wish to be away; I want to come
here and live here always--"

"Oh, dear!" she interrupted, "of course it is natural that you should
not want to tear yourself away from your lovely home. It would be very
hard for us to go away now, especially for father and me, for we have
grown to love this place so much. But if you want us to leave, I dare
say--"

"I want you to leave!" I exclaimed. "Never! When I say that I want to
live here myself, that my heart will not let me go anywhere else, I
mean that I want you to live here too--you, your mother and
father--that I want--"

"Oh, that would be perfectly splendid!" she said. "I have
ever so often thought that it was a shame that you should be deprived
of the pleasures you so much enjoy, which I see you can find here and
nowhere else. Now, I have a plan which I think will work splendidly.
We are a very small family. Why shouldn't you come here and live with
us? There is plenty of room, and I know father and mother would be
very glad, and you can pay your board, if that would please you better.
You can have the room at the top of the tower for your study and your
smoking den, and the room under it can be your bedroom, so you can be
just as independent as you please of the rest of us, and you can be
living on your own place without interferi