"No use! Osmond, I have given you my love. What do you mean to do with it?"
He caught his breath miserably.
"I am going to—God! what am I going to do! You are honest," he cried, "you mean it all, but—sweetheart, look at me, and see it is not possible. To-night ends it."
She withdrew her hands from his, and sat upright in her chair.
"Then," she said, "you are a coward."
"Am I?" He looked at her, blanched and sorrowful. "Am I, Rose?"
"You are a coward. You love me—"
"You know it! You do know that!"
"You know you do, and then you refuse to take the simple, sweet, faithful way with me."
"What way, my dear?"