“Beatrice,” he said, slowly, “what did you say just now? Say it again.”
Defiance shone out of her eyes.
“I will not!” she said, her cheeks flaming.
He took both her hands in his and held them hard.
“Yes you will,” he answered. “Say it again.”
She was panting with a strange mixture of feeling; the earth and sky seemed to spin round together.
“Say it again, Beatrice.”
“I said—I loved you; but I don’t—I will never, never say it again——”
She got no farther, for he held her so closely in his arms that all speech was impossible for the moment.