"And ... and ... you'll ... give yourself to me ... you'll chuck that brute ... at once?"
Respectability, the only chaperon that ever influenced Belinda, warned sharply. She relaxed her hold of him a little. Her voice took a keener note.
"D'you mean ... will I marry you when you're free?"
Loring paled, then the blood rushed to his face again.
"Yes ... damn it ... I mean that," he said.
She eyed him for a few seconds narrowly. Then she said:
"You swear it?"
"I swear it," he muttered.
"On your honour?"
"Yes ... on what's left of it."