"Yes, I believe I did," she answered, her eyes set very steadily on his.
He slipped the thing back into his pocket. "And now I love you, and I want you, Mary."
She fell into a sudden agitation. "Oh, but this doesn't seem for me! I'd put all that behind me!—I——" She could scarcely find words. "I—I'm just Doctor Mary!"
"Lots of people to practise on—bodies and souls too—in the moral latitude I'm going to!"
Her body seemed to shiver a little, as though before a plunge into deep water. "I'm very safe here," she whispered.
"Yes, you're safe here," he acknowledged gravely, and stood silent, waiting for her choice.
"What a decision to have to make!" she cried suddenly. "It's all my life in a moment! Because I don't want you to go away from me!" She drew near to him, and put her hands on his shoulders. "I'm not a child, like Cynthia. I can't dream dreams and make idols any more. I think I see you as you are, and I don't know whether your love is a good thing." She paused, searching his eyes with hers very earnestly. Then she went on, "But if it isn't, I think there's no good thing left for me at all."
"Mary, isn't that your answer to me?"
"Yes." Her arms fell from his shoulders, and she stood opposite to him, in silence again for a moment. Then her troubled face cleared to a calm serenity. "And now I set doubts and fears behind me. I come to you in faith, and loyalty, and love. I'm not a missionary to you, or a reformer. God forbid! I'm just the woman who loves you, Hector."
"I should have mocked at the missionary, and tricked the reformer." He bared his head before her. "But by the woman who loves me and whom I love, I will deal faithfully." He bent and kissed her forehead.