“Will you be my wife, darling?”
But the words had scarcely passed his lips when a look of anguish swept over Erica's face; she snatched away her hands.
“Oh! God help me!” she cried. “What have I done? I've been living in a dream! It's impossible, Brian! Impossible!”
A gray look came over Brian's face.
“How impossible?” he asked in a choked voice.
“I can't leave home,” she said, clasping her hands tightly together. “I never can leave my father.”
“I will wait,” said Brian, recovering his voice. “I will wait any time for you only give me hope.”
“I can't,” she sobbed. “I daren't!”
“But you have given it me!” he exclaimed. “You have said you loved me!”
“I do! I do!” she cried passionately. “But, oh, Brian! Have pity on me don't make me say it again I must not think of it I can never be your wife.”