I started forward, saying quickly:
“No, I am here—I will see any one.”
And so he came in, but it was not the one I expected. It was Mr. Gregory.
I think that he found my embarrassment on greeting him both gratifying and encouraging, but its cause was alien to his thought. I was brought back from another world, as it were, with a rude shock, and in my enfeebled condition, consequent upon a severe illness could not control myself. Indeed I did not feel that I was mistress of myself at any time during the evening.
After a word or two, which I cannot recall, I stammered out:
“I was not expecting you this evening—I had not sent for you.”
“I know that you have not,” he answered—then dropping his voice a trifle, he added, “I could not wait any longer—I found it difficult to wait so long as this. I hardly dared hope that I might see you this evening, but I felt I must try.”
Intent upon sparing him the pain of a spoken declaration, I exclaimed:
“Oh, Mr. Gregory, don’t! please don’t say anything more. I am not deserving of your esteem and kindness.”
He came nearer me, and his voice was at once tender and reverent, as he said: