“All right, dearest. Only don't let us descend to hypocrisy. I thank Heaven he is dead, and so do you.”
“Pray don't SAY so.”
“Well, I won't: let him go. Death settles all accounts. Did you see me stretch out my hand to save him?”
“I did, my angel, and it was like you: you are the noblest and the greatest creature that ever was, or ever will be.”
“The silliest, you mean. I wondered at myself next minute. Fancy me being such an idiot as to hold out a hand to save him, and so wither both our lives—yours and mine; but I suppose it is against nature not to hold out a hand. Well, no harm came of it, thank Heaven.”
“Let us talk of ourselves,” said Grace, lovingly. “My darling, let no harsh thought mar the joy of this hour. You have saved my life again. Well, then, it is doubly yours. Here, looking on that death we have just escaped, I devote myself to you. You don't know how I love you; but you shall. I adore you.”
“I love you better still.”
“You do not: you can't. It is the one thing I can beat you at and I will.”
“Try. When will you be mine?”
“I am yours. But if you mean when will I marry you, why, whenever you please. We have suffered too cruelly, and loved too dearly, for me to put you off a single day for affectations and vanities. When you please, my own.”