"Not that I should be absolutely penniless?"
"Not in the least."
"But it will, Mr Owen. In that even my father agrees with me." In this she was no doubt wrong. Her father had simply impressed upon her the necessity of taking the money because of her lover's needs. "I will not be a burden at any rate to you; and as I cannot go to you without being a burden, I will not go at all. What does it matter whether there be a little more suffering or a little less? What does it matter?"
"It matters a great deal to me."
"A man gets over that quickly, I think."
"So does a woman,—if she be the proper sort of woman for getting over her difficulties of that kind. I don't think you are."
"I will try."
"I won't." This he said, looking full into her face. "My philosophy teaches me to despise the grapes which hang too high, but to make the most of those which come within my reach. Now, I look upon you as being within my reach."
"I am not within your reach."
"Yes; pardon me for my confidence, but you are. You have confessed that you love me."