lib list: "Why, 'just fancy now,' and 'only think of
that!' and 'I dare say, indeed,' and a lot more."

"But they are not queer!" she exclaimed.

"They sound just as queer to me as 'O.K.' and 'I guess' do to you!" he
said triumphantly.

She blinked her eyes rapidly, as though taking in an inconceivable
idea, while he held her fixed with a steady gaze which lost none of its
firmness by being both good-humored and highly amused. Finally,
reluctantly, she admitted, "Yes, I see. You mean I'm insular."

"Oh, as to that, I mean we both are--that is, we are as ignorant as
stotin'-bottles of each other's ways of doing things. Only I want to
find out about your ways, and you don't about----"

She broke in hastily, "Ah, but I do want to find out about yours!
You--you make me very curious indeed." As she said this, she looked
full at him with a grave simplicity which was instantly reflected on
his own face.

"Well, Miss Midland," he said slowly, "maybe now's a good time to say
it, and maybe it's a good thing to say, since you _don't_ know about
our ways--to give you a sort of declaration of principles. I wasn't
brought up in very polite society--my father and mother were Iowa
farmer-folks, and I lost them early, and I've had to look out for
myself ever since I was fourteen, so I'm not very long on _polish_; but
let me tell you, as they say about other awkward people, I _mean_ well.
We're both poor students working together in a foreign country, and
maybe I can do something to make it pleasanter for you, as I would for
a fellow-student woman in my country. If I can, I'd like to, fine! I
want to do what's square by everybody, and by women specially. I don't
think they get a fair deal mostly. I think they've got as much sense as
men, and lots of them more, and I like to treat them accordingly. So
don't you mind if I do some Rube things that seem queer to you, and do
remember that you can be dead sure that I _never_ mean any harm."

He finished this speech with an urgent sincerity in his voice, quite
different from his usual whimsical note, and for a moment they looked
at each other almost solemnly, the girl's lips parted, her blue eyes
wide and serious. She flushed a clear rose-pink. "Why!" she said, "Why,
I _believe_ you!" Harrison broke the tension with a laugh. "And what is
there so surprising if you do?"

"I don't think," she said slowly, "that I ever saw any one before whom
I would believe if he said that last."

"Dea