"I do not ask you to forget all which has passed!"
"I am afraid that there is nothing which would be any credit to you, sir, to have remembered."
"Credit or none," said Tom, unabashed, "do not forget one word that I said."
She looked hastily and sidelong round,—"That I am in your power?"
"No! curse it! I wish I had bitten out my tongue before I had said that. No! that I am in your power, Miss Harvey."
"Sir! I never heard you say that; and if you had, the sooner anything so untrue is forgotten the better."
"I said that I loved you, Grace; and if that does not mean that—"
"Sir! Mr. Thurnall! I cannot, I will not hear! You only insult me, sir, by speaking thus, when you know that—that you consider me—a thief!" and the poor girl burst into tears again.
"I do not! I do not;" cried Tom, growing really earnest at the sight of her sorrow, "Did I not begin this unhappy talk by begging your pardon for ever having let such a thought cross my mind?"
"But you do! you do! you told me as much at my own door; and I have seen it ever since, till I have almost gone mad under it!"