"You would, of course?" he said, with sudden excitement, seizing the hand he had refused. "Mildred, I love you! I love you! I do not say it to you every hour, but I think it with every breath. You would not make me wait one moment if"—
"Oh, how can you, Jack? Why must you love a girl so unworthy?" She shrank closer to the railing. "I told you,—I tried to warn you,—I told you that I do not love anybody but Mildred Bryant."
Before she ceased speaking, Van Tassel had released her and recovered himself.
"And the Peristyle," he added steadily, "you are forgetting that."
She did not smile, and her lips quivered.
"So long as my only rivals are your sweet self and the Indians, Helmsmen, et. al., who view the country from the top of the Peristyle, I cannot despair. Perhaps I ought to, dear, but I can't."
Mildred wondered if her companion were really so pale as the shadows made him appear.
"Hope springs eternal in the human breast, and I am going to hope until you announce your engagement to me. Then, until I receive your wedding cards, I shall look to see you find that engagement a mistake. And if you are married," Jack paused; "I don't know. My mind turns blank when it occurs to me that you might marry another man."
"I am not worth it. I am not worth it," repeated the girl.
"Have I made you unhappy? Shall I go away? Will my presence be a burden to you now?"