"Oh, Will!"
"I meant to have told you, of course, Mary,—to have told you everything; but I did not mean to tell it to-night; only it has somehow fallen from me. Out of the full heart the mouth speaks, they say."
"I never can like her if she refuses your love."
"Why not? That is unlike you, Mary. Why should she be bound to love me because I love her?"
"Is there any one else, Will?"
"How can I tell? I did not ask her. I would not have asked her for the world, though I would have given the world to know."
"And she is so very beautiful?"
"Beautiful! It isn't that so much;—though she is beautiful. But,—but,—I can't tell you why,—but she is the only girl that I ever saw who would suit me for a wife. Oh, dear!"
"My own Will!"
"But I'm not going to keep you up all night, Mary. And I'll tell you something else; I'm not going to break my heart for love. And I'll tell you something else again; I'm not going to give it up yet. I believe I've been a fool. Indeed, I know I've been a fool. I went about it just as if I were buying a horse, and had told the seller that that was my price,—he might take it or leave it. What right had I to suppose that any girl was to be had in that way; much less such a girl as Clara Amedroz?"