"And if I had," said Pierre, "would you have hated me less? Do you hate me the less now that you know it?"
She was silent.
"Tell me, Stephanie," he persisted.
Her eyes fell before his.
"Have I ever hated you?" she said, her voice very low.
"If I did not make you hate me last night," he said, "then you never have."
"And I never shall," she supplemented under her breath.
"That," said Pierre, "is another matter. You forget that I am a blackguard."
Again she heard in his voice that sound that might have been laughter. It thrilled her strangely, seeming in some fashion to convey a message that was beyond words. She turned in his arms, responding instinctively, and clung closely to him.
"I forget everything," she told him very earnestly, "except that to-morrow—or the next day—you will be—my husband."