"I will not tell you a falsehood."
"Do you love me?" There was still a pause. "Do you love me as a woman should love the man she means to marry?"
"I do love you!"
"Then, in God's name, why should we not kiss? You are my love and I am yours. Your father and mother are satisfied that it should be so. Seeing that we are so, is it a disgrace to kiss? Having won your heart, may I not have the delight of thinking that you would wish me to be near you?"
"You must know it all," she said, "though it may be unwomanly to tell so much."
"Know what?"
"There has never been a man whose touch has been pleasant to me;—but I could revel in yours. Kiss you? I could kiss your feet at this moment, and embrace your knees. Everything belonging to you is dear to me. The things you have touched have been made sacred to me. The Prayer-Book tells the young wife that she should love her husband till death shall part them. I think my love will go further than that."
"Isabel! Isabel!"
"Keep away from me! I will not even give you my hand to shake till you have promised to be of one mind with me. I will not become your wife."
"You shall become my wife!"