"It is high enough for most people," says Neilson. "Don't grow pessimistic, Margaret. There is a great deal of light and joy and laughter in the world, and I know no one so framed to enjoy it as yourself, if only you would give yourself full sway. You condemn marriage, yet how can you speak of it with authority—you who have not tried it?"
"Oh, do, do stop," says Margaret, lifting her hand. "You are getting on that—that wretched old tack again."
"So I am. I know it. I shall be on that tack to the end of my life. And I think it so unfair of you to condemn anybody without even a hearing."
"Why, I must," says she, laughing in spite of herself.
"No, you needn't. Marry me, and then give judgment!"
"I shall never marry," says Margaret, with cold decision; then, as if ashamed of her tone, she looks up at him. It is rather a shy look, and makes her even more admirable in the eyes of the man watching her. "Why will you persist?" asks she.
"I must. I must."
"It sounds like a doom," says she lightly, though tears are gathering in her eyes. "Don't waste your life. Don't!"
"I am not wasting it. I am spending it on you," says the Colonel, who is really a delightful lover.
"Ah! but that is so dreadful—for me!"