“As soon as you are ready.”
“But—can you drop this at once?”
“I shall not drop it.”
Her voice was low, very low, but clear and steady.
He rose to his feet with a muffled exclamation, and walked the length of the piazza and back.
“Do you realize that you are saying no to me, Diantha?”
“You are mistaken, dear. I have said that I will marry you whenever you choose. But it is you who are saying, 'I will not marry a woman with a business.'”
“This is foolishness!” he said sharply. “No man—that is a man—would marry a woman and let her run a business.”
“You are mistaken,” she answered. “One of the finest men I ever knew has asked me to marry him—and keep on with my work!”
“Why didn't you take him up?”