"I love you."
She shrugged her shoulders.
"No, I will never admit it."
"It is true enough—Oh! Katherine, there is nothing I would not do for you and you know it, only I cannot help wanting to be certain if I am to expect the worst. I feared it at once when you looked into his eyes. Has my doom come at last then?"
"You are paying me a great compliment; you seem to think that the matter lies only in my hands."
"You will accomplish anything you desire."
She did not speak.
"Katherine," he pleaded, and there was anguish in his voice, "tell me the truth, whether I have the right to ask it or no. The idea has come to you that this would be worth winning, this position—has it not?"
"Yes."