She reflected a little, and then said:
"You can't perform miracles every day. You could not get through another day like to-day, could you?"
"Not without help from somewhere. But I hope that the worst is over."
"Oh, you needn't think I'll blame you if everything goes to pieces. You've done ten times as much as anybody had a right to expect. But there is a limit to the things that can be done, and I know it very well."
I tried to speak, but she continued quickly:
"Oh, I haven't given up hope. Not a bit of it. But I have to look ahead. That's a part of me. But I won't talk about it if you don't like."
At the thought of her anxieties my feelings over-mastered me and I said:
"I do like. But I want you to look ahead to something else--to another future than taking care of your uncle's house." My heart thumped in my breast, and I felt a throb in my throat playing strange tricks with my voice. In the instant I thought of all that I had put at stake, and wished I had not begun. But with an effort of will I continued: "I want you to think of another future. I love you more than all the world, and I want you to be my wife."
She walked silently by my side, neither increasing her distance nor drawing nearer to me. But she walked on and spoke no word, and I fell into a panic over the boldness that had inspired me to my avowal. We had proceeded thus for two or three blocks before I plucked up the courage to ask:
"And what is the answer?"