“Don’t laugh at me!” he repeated. “It hurts!”
“I don’t want to hurt you, but I want to make you understand. What you wish can never be.”
“If Merriwell were out of the way——”
“Even then it could never be, for I do not love you.”
“You might—you might in time! I’d make you love me! I’d find a way!”
“You could not. You can’t make a girl love you by commanding it. You’ll simply succeed in causing her to fly from you.”
“If you fly from me, even as Apollo pursued Daphne will I pursue you.”
“Have you forgotten what happened when at last Apollo overtook Daphne? He did not succeed in his desires, for she was changed into a laurel tree, and his reward was bitter disappointment.”
“How much more bitter would have been his feelings had he seen her captured by another! As Apollo was wounded by Cupid’s dart thus have I been wounded. Inza, listen to me, I beg! Put off your marriage with Merriwell for a time. Your feelings toward him may change. Perhaps—perhaps——”
“It is folly for you to dream of such a thing.”