"Then do come on, or I’ll think you don’t want to marry me at all!"
He turned instantly, and she followed him—just to the door of her room; but no farther. He looked back.
"Aren’t you ready?" he asked.
"Eddie!" she cried in a high, dreadful voice. "Eddie! I can’t do it!"
"Can’t do what?" he asked, startled.
"I can’t do it! I can’t marry you! Not unless I tell you!"
He stared at her for an instant, his quick and clear mind at work upon this.
"What is there to tell me?" he asked. "Let’s have it!" He was alert and suspicious now. "Come on! Let’s have it!" he repeated.
"Eddie!" she began, but a great horror at her own folly assailed her.
She felt impelled toward this abyss, while she struggled madly to turn aside, aghast at the destruction before her. Perhaps even now it wasn’t too late; perhaps she could disarm the suspicion that she had aroused, could stop, and not tell him any more.