"You're mocking me," she said.
"Not a bit of it," he retorted, following her. "I don't propose to live with an economic inferior. Such a course would wreck us at the start. That there can be no genuine comradeship between people of unequal means is a truth which every philosopher from Plato to William James has pointed out."
"Did they point it out, in the midst of a proposal?"
He held both her hands in a firm grip.
"Darling, don't pretend to misunderstand me. Do you want me to sink to my knees in this public place and overwhelm you with ardors and protestations? It's easy enough, and I'm quite mad enough now. Mad with the enchantment of your touch, that turns my heart to fire; with the music of your voice, in which I hear all Elfland calling; with your haunting mystery and lilac fragrance, at which my senses reel and swim! I'm ninety-nine parts drenched with ecstasy! If you reproach me because one thin gleam of sanity still remains at the helm I shall be—"
"Arithmetical!"
At the word, he seized her and kissed her and—Time being Love's fool—they were imparadised in each other's arms.
VII
After a while, between endearments, she managed to say:
"So you do want me to make a marriage of convenience?"