Still, she might as well live up to the dream while it lasted, and have the more to remember.
"It's a fairy story, surely!" she said, trying to laugh. "There are so many beautiful girls in the world for a man like you, that I——"
"A man like me! What am I like?"
"Oh, it's hard to put into words. But—well, you're brave; I'm sure of that."
"I hope I'm not a coward. All normal men are brave. That's nothing. What else am I—to you?"
"Interesting. More interesting than—than any one I ever saw."
"If you feel that, you don't want to send me out of your life, do you?—after you've stood by and sheltered me from danger?"
"No-o. I don't want to send you out of my life. But——"
"There's only one way in which you can keep me and I can keep you—circumstanced as we are. We must be husband and wife."
"Oh!" The girl covered her face with both hands. The world was on fire around her.