`` If you -- would care -- to read it -- you may have it , '' Jasper contrived to say . She carried the book away with her . He did not again hide when she passed , and when she brought the book back they talked a little about it over the fence . He lent her others , and got some from her in return ; they fell into the habit of discussing them . Jasper did not find it hard to talk to her now ; it seemed as if he were talking to his dream Alice , and it came strangely natural to him . He did not talk volubly , but Alice thought what he did say was worth while . His words lingered in her memory and made music . She always found his flowers under the pine , and she always wore some of them , but she did not know if he noticed this or not . One evening Jasper walked shyly with her from his gate up the pine hill . After that he always walked that far with her . She would have missed him much if he had failed to do so ; yet it did not occur to her that she was learning to love him . She would have laughed with girlish scorn at the idea . She liked him very much ; she thought his nature beautiful in its simplicity and purity ; in spite of his shyness she felt more delightfully at home in his society than in that of any other person she had ever met . He was one of those rare souls whose friendship is at once a pleasure and a benediction , showering light from their own crystal clearness into all the dark corners in the souls of others , until , for the time being at least , they reflected his own nobility . But she never thought of love . Like other girls she had her dreams of a possible Prince Charming , young and handsome and debonair . It never occurred to her that he might be found in the shy , dreamy recluse of Golden Milestone . In August came a day of gold and blue . Alice Reade , coming through the trees , with the wind blowing her little dark love-locks tricksily about under her wide blue hat , found a fragrant heap of mignonette under the pine . She lifted it and buried her face in it , drinking in the wholesome , modest perfume .
She had hoped Jasper would be XXXXX his garden , since she wished to ask him for a book she greatly desired to read .
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