“Dear! ... my beautiful dear!” he said. “I love you. Do you love me? ... a little?”
The soft colour deepened in her face. She looked up at him and smiled; then her eyelids drooped over the shining eyes.
“I like you,” she admitted. “Ah!”
The disappointment occasioned by this mild concession betrayed itself in his voice. With her intense nature, so lukewarm a response was almost a rebuff.
“That isn’t strong enough to throw down the barriers,” he said. He took her face between his hands and gazed deeply into her eyes. “I love you more than life. Haven’t you something a little better than liking to give me in return? Honor, I want to marry you.”
For a moment she was silent. Her breath fluttered nervously between her parted lips; her eyes lifted to his, fell, lifted to his again.
“Is your love strong enough to throw down barriers?” she asked.
“There aren’t any barriers on my side to knock over,” he answered, smiling.
“Are there not?” Her face was grave now, and purposeful, her gaze steadfast. She put up her hands and clasped his wrists. “I will marry you—on one condition.”
“Yes!” he said, and waited, feeling curious and oddly chilled. The excitement of his passion died down before her strange composure.