"Leave you?" he said. "Well, yes; but it will be only for a few hours a day, if—if you consent to do what I am going to ask you?"
"What is it?" she asked, still calmly.
"I want you to marry me—at once, Leslie?" he said in a low voice, and almost solemnly.
She started, and her hand quivered in his.
"Marry—you—at once!" she whispered, her bosom heaving, her long dark lashes trembling.
"You are frightened, dearest?" he said, drawing her nearer to him.
She was silent a moment.
"No," she replied in a whisper, "not frightened, I think, but——."
"And that isn't all," he said almost desperately. "I want our marriage to be a secret one."
She started now, and drew her hand from his, turning her pale face to him with almost pained surprise.