"That's just it. I wonder if you've the faintest idea of what it means to a woman to marry a man by making herself a burden to him in advance—and such a burden!"
"It wouldn't be a burden to any one who—who—"
"I know what you're going to say. Love does make a difference. Of course. But it acts one way on the man and another way on the woman. In proportion as it urges him to make the sacrifice, it impels her to prevent it."
He grew still bolder. The cover of the night and the intimacy of the situation made him venturesome. "Then why don't you break off your engagement?"
It was a long while before she answered. "He won't let me," she said then. "And, besides," she added, after slight hesitation, "it's difficult not to be true to a man who's showing himself so noble."
"Is that your only reason?"
She raised her head slightly and turned toward him. He expected something cutting, but she only said: "What makes you ask that?"
He was a little frightened. He backed down, and yet not altogether. "Oh, nothing. I only—wondered."
"If you think I don't care for him—"
"Oh no. Not that—not that at all."