“But think what I am!” cried the pitifully honest lover. “I’m not in—your class. I don’t know your ways. I couldn’t live like you—”
Their arms were about each other, and what did all that matter? The strength and tenderness of his embrace, the reassurance she felt in his unalterable sympathy and kindness, made her weep. He was not strange to her; he was dearer and more familiar, even than her mother. There was security in him, and her deepest instinct required security.
“Don’t cry, darling little Andrée,” he said. “Are you afraid we can’t be happy?”
He was, very greatly.
“No!” she said, scornfully. “Of course I’m not afraid.”
They sat down, side by side, on a fallen log; he looked into her dark eyes, glittering with tears; he didn’t know how to tell her how precious, how adorable she was.
“I’ll do my best,” he said. “Tell me just what you want, and what you don’t like.... I can’t help making you happy, when I love you so, can I, darling Andrée? I’ll be the best kind of friend and lover I can to you, always. I’ll never interfere.”
“If you only won’t,” she said, eagerly. “I’ve grown to rather hate the idea of ever marrying, because it means so much interfering. I want to be myself.”
Stephens privately didn’t believe in marriage at all; he had even written a brochure on the subject; he thought it an evil; he would tell you, asked, or unasked, that he had never seen a happy marriage, or even many endurable ones. He didn’t believe in women being dependent; he loathed domesticity; he revolted at the idea of vows and promises. And now, at this moment, he became completely an apostate. What else could be done with a creature like Andrée? Of course they must be married; more than that, he voluntarily made to her then and there all those vows he condemned; he promised to make her happier than he possibly could, he promised eternal love and constancy, he promised that as this moment, so should all their lives be; he believed it, and so did she.
“We’ll be friends, Andrée, always,” he said. “We’ll each have our own life and our own interests. We’ll make it a different sort of marriage.”