"My dear!" he said.
He let her go with the words, and she clasped her hands about her knees and looked out to sea. She was still trembling a little, but as he sat beside her in unbroken silence she grew gradually calmer, and presently she spoke without any apparent difficulty.
"You've taken a good deal for granted, Dick, haven't you? You don't know me very well."
"Don't I?" he said.
"No. You've been—dreadfully headlong all through." She smiled faintly, with a touch of sadness. "You've skipped all the usual preliminaries—which isn't always wise. Don't you teach your boys to look before they leap?"
"When there's time," he said. "But you know, dear, you gave the word for—the final plunge."
She nodded slowly once or twice. "Yes. But I didn't expect quite—quite—Well, never mind what I expected! The fact remains, we haven't known each other long enough. No, I know we can't go back now and begin again. But, Dick, I want you—and it's for your sake as much as for my own—I want you, please, to be very patient. Will you? May I count on that?"
He put out his hand to her and gently touched her shoulder. "Don't talk to me like a slave appealing to a sultan!" he said.
She made a little movement towards him, but she did not turn. "I don't want to hurt you," she said. "But I'm going to ask of you something that you won't like—at all."
"Well, what is it?" he said.