For his part, he fears lest she will not accept
his love, whereas she, too, would have spoken out had she not
feared to be rejected. In spite of this, the eyes of each reveal
the hidden thought, if only they had heeded this evidence. They
converse by glance of eye, but their tongues are so cowardly that
they dare not speak in any wise of the love which possesses them.
No wonder if she hesitates to begin, for a maid must be a simple
and shrinking thing; but he--why does he wait and hold back who
was so bold for her just now, but now in her presence is
cowardly? God! whence comes this fear, that he should shrink
from a lonely girl, feeble and timid, simple and mild? It is as
if I should see the dog flee before the hare, and the fish chase
the beaver, the lamb the wolf, and the dove the eagle. In the
same fashion the labourer would forsake his pick with which he
strives to earn a livelihood, and the falcon would flee from the
duck, and the gerfalcon from the heron, and the pike from the
minnow, and the stag would chase the lion, and everything would
be reversed. Now I feel within me the desire to give some reason
why it should happen to true lovers that they lose their sense
and boldness to say what they have in mind when they have leisure
and place and time.
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