A Letter to a Gentleman

"You could walk in these," he said, with some hesitation. "They're the smallest I could get." He produced a pair of Chinese shoes--man's shoes. And he added, "I thought perhaps you could tie them on, someway." 

He had to help her tie them, with twine cut from his bale of bedding. And he made rather a botch of it. She could see the red come slowly into his neck and ears as he bent over the unaccustomed task. Once his knuckles brushed her silk stocking at the instep, and he winced. After which she had to wait, smiling there in the shadows of the cart, and finally asked him to help her down. 

"Now," she said, "I want you to get in there and take a nap." 

He shook his head. 

She looked straight into his eyes. "Please," she insisted. "You've done so much for me without my asking. Now won't you do the one