“Yes,” she said, and her voice came in a whisper. “It is all so—so sudden! I don’t know——”
“My darling!” he whispered. “Let me ask you! I know what love means, for I learned it from my love for you. Look at me, Doris!”
She raised her eyes—they seemed weighted with lead—and let them rest upon his ardent, glowing face.
“Let me ask you,” he said, “would you like me to be unhappy? Would you like me to leave you, to go away from you, not for an hour, or a day, but forever?”
A faint shudder shook her, and the hands touching his breast half-closed on him.
“Would you be happy if I were miles away, and there were no chance of ever seeing me again? Doris, answer me; shall I go? Will you say ‘good-by?’”
He drew back from her in a feint of leaving her, and her small, soft hands closed upon him.
“No, no!”
He asked for no more. With a cry of joy he drew her to him and kissed her, all unrebuked this time.
“My darling!—my beautiful!” he murmured. “Oh, Doris, is it true—can it be true? Tell me, dearest; I can’t believe it otherwise. Tell me, do you love me just a little?” and he looked into her downcast eyes as if he would read her soul.