I rode down myself on the third . I had not gone much to Glenby that month ; but , if there were trouble Bettyward , it was my duty to make smooth the rough places . As usual , I found Betty in the pineland . I thought she looked rather pale and dull ... fretting about Frank no doubt . She brightened up when she saw me , evidently expecting that I had come to straighten matters out ; but she pretended to be haughty and indifferent . `` I am glad you have n't forgotten us altogether , Stephen , '' she said coolly . `` You have n't been down for a week . '' `` I 'm flattered that you noticed it , '' I said , sitting down on a fallen tree and looking up at her as she stood , tall and lithe , against an old pine , with her eyes averted . `` I should n't have supposed you 'd want an old fogy like myself poking about and spoiling the idyllic moments of love 's young dream . '' `` Why do you always speak of yourself as old ? '' said Betty , crossly , ignoring my reference to Frank . `` Because I am old , my dear . Witness these gray hairs . '' I pushed up my hat to show them the more recklessly . Betty barely glanced at them . `` You have just enough to give you a distinguished look , '' she said , `` and you are only forty . A man is in his prime at forty . He never has any sense until he is forty -- and sometimes he does n't seem to have any even then , '' she concluded impertinently . My heart beat . Did Betty suspect ?
Was that last sentence meant to inform me that she was aware XXXXX my secret folly , and laughed at it ?
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