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V.]
THE EUROPEANS.
191
me?" He said nothing, and then she went on, "Why don't you answer me?"
"I am trying to invent an answer," Acton confessed.
"Have you none ready?"
"None that I can tell you," he said. "But let me walk with you now."
"You may do as you like."
She moved slowly along the road, and Acton went with her. Presently he said, "If I had done as I liked I would have come to see you several times."
"Is that invented?" asked Eugenia.
"No, that is natural. I stayed away because"—
"Ah, here comes the reason, then!"
"Because I wanted to think about you."
