CHAPTER LII.
"My love has sworn with sealing kiss With me to live—to die; I have at last my nameless bliss— As I love, loved am I."
There is a pause: it threatens to be an everlasting one, as Miss Kavanagh plainly doesn't know what to say. He can see this; what he cannot see is that she is afraid of her own voice. Those troublesome tears that all day have been so close to her seem closer than ever now.
"Beauclerk came down to see you to-day," says he presently. This remark is so unexpected that it steadies her.
"Yes," she says, calmly enough, but without raising the tell-tale eyes.
"You expected him?"
"No." Monosyllables alone seem possible to her. So great is her fear that she will give way and finally disgrace herself, that she forgets to resent the magisterial tone be has adopted.
"He asked you to marry him, however?" There is something almost threatening in his tone now, as if he is defying her to deny his assertion. It overwhelms her.