"Because it would be so easy to forget my years, and love you with a young man's ardour, and more than a young man's faith."
"Then why not love me?"
"Ah! Sylvia, it is your kindness, your compassion. I could not endure to be thrown over now, even though I am well on in my forties."
"I shall not throw you over. Look at me, and you will see."
He looked at her, and made a step towards her.
"Then you will make the world over again for me?"
"And you for me?"
"Ah, Sylvia!"
"Yes. How hard it was to persuade you. There will be lots of people who will want to marry you once it is known you have come back. You might have liked someone better than me. And I have waited for three years."
"You fairy princess, what do you mean by condescending to a mortal's grey hairs?"