"May I say something first?" she said.
He turned his brooding eyes upon her.
"If you can say it quietly," he said.
She pressed her hand to her throat.
"You—will listen to me, and—and believe me?"
"I shall know if you lie to me," he said.
She made a sharp gesture of protest.
"I don't deserve that," she said. "You know it."
His grim lips relaxed a very little.
"I shouldn't talk about deserts if I were you," he said.