"I should be most ungrateful if I were not happy," she replied; "you are so good to me, Lord Arleigh."
"You must not call me 'Lord Arleigh'--say 'Norman.'"
"Norman," she repeated, "you are so good to me."
"I love you so well, sweet," he returned.
The happy eyes were raised to his face.
"Will you tell me," she asked, "why you love me, Norman? I cannot think why it is. I wonder about it every day. You see girls a thousand times better suited to you than I am. Why do you love me so?"
"What a question to answer, sweet! How can I tell why I love you? I cannot help it; my soul is attracted to your soul, my heart to your heart, Madaline. I shall be unwilling to leave you again; when I go away from Verdun Royal, I shall want to take my wife with me."
She looked at him in alarm.
"I am quite serious," he continued. "You are so sensitive, so full of hesitation, that, if I leave you, you will come to the conclusion that you have done wrong, and will write me a pathetic little letter, and go away."
"No, I shall not do that," she observed.