“And now the fun’s all over and the work begins,” she said, looking down.
“I know that,” he asseverated.
She lifted up her eyes and looked at him so very kindly. And then—after a little pause to gain command of word and thought she spoke again, slowly.
“Listen,” she said, this time very softly, but very seriously. “I want to tell you one thing and I want to tell it to you now. I had a good and sufficient reason for helping you out with Aunt Mary; but—” She hesitated.
“But?” he asked.
“But I’ve no reason at all for helping your Aunt Mary out with you, unless you prove worthy of her, and—”
“And?”
She looked at him, and shook her head slightly.
“I won’t say ‘and of me,’” she said finally.
“Why not?” he asked, a storm of tempestuous impatience raging behind his lips. “Do say it,” he pleaded.