* * * * *
It would seem like sacrilege to write of the next quarter of an hour, even if I could remember what was said, which I cannot; there remains to me but a confused memory, yet one of the gladdest of all that I possess. All that I can say is, that I knew I had received a priceless gift in her love, and gloried that mine for her was as deep and passionate.
"You are rather astonishing, Victor."
Her words brought me back to everyday existence, and I began to laugh, lightly at first and rather uncertainly, until she joined in, and we sat like two foolish people, and laughed until we cried. But an end must come to even the heartiest laughter, and when I had wiped the tears from my eyes, I answered her remark:
"Why am I astonishing?"
"Isn't it rather unusual--your mode of procedure, I mean?"
"It is none the worse for that, but I suppose it might strike a casual observer as rather strange."
"I think it would," she said.
She began to laugh again, but so tremulously that I put my arm round her and held her tight; her head went down on to my shoulder and she cried. For a moment I thought to ask her what was the matter, but my innate prudence made me keep silent, and after a minute or two she looked up, smiling through her tears.
"I am so silly, but I am so happy."