'But you need not give me a final answer now. Let me wait and try to win you—to be more worthy of you. I know I am not that yet, but you know we've got on awfully well together—been such chums—I'm sure it would all come right.'
He looked very handsome and very winning, pleading his cause with an earnestness which left no doubt of his sincerity. Gladys allowed him to take her hand, and did not draw herself away.
'If you will let me alone a long time—a year, at least—and never speak of it, I will give you an answer then. It is a very serious thing, and one must be quite sure,' she said slowly; and that answer was more than George Fordyce had dared to hope for. There was more deliberation and calmness in her disposal of the question than would have satisfied most men, but he had fared better than he expected, and left the house content.
As for Gladys, she felt restless and unhappy, she did not know why; only she knew that never had her thoughts reverted with such lingering persistence to the past, never had its memories seemed more fraught with sweetness and with pain. She was an enigma, she could not understand herself.
CHAPTER XXVI.
UNDER DISCUSSION.
een took quite a long walk along the bleak country road, and on her way back dropped in at the lodge.