"Then ... dear...." she said very low, "this ... that has happened is ... beautiful ... but ... but it is only a dream.... We ... we must wake now...."
"Bend down and see...." he whispered. "I am not dream-stuff, Beautiful. Bend down to me again ... as last evening...."
"No, my dear ... no and no...."
"Then I must reach to you...."
She felt the flutter of his lips at her mouth's edge. She drew aside, holding him from her. The words came quick and short.
"It is absurd. I am too old ... you are too young.... Heaven and earth would laugh at us.... I am a woman who has lived through horrors ... yes, horrors.... You are just at the beginning...."
"Yes ... just at the beginning—with you, my Wonderful!"
"My dear, dear boy...."
"'Boy' for your whim.... 'Man' to love you...."
"Oh, be reasonable!..."