She sat and looked at them for a few seconds thoughtfully, and then handed them back.
“You are very good, and Jenny will be in ecstasies,” she said.
“It is a happiness to me to give her pleasure,” he returned. “I feel great tenderness for her. She is not like the young girls I have known. Her innocence is of a frank and noble quality, which is better than ignorance. One could not bear that the slightest shadow of sin or pain should fall upon her. The atmosphere surrounding her is so bright with pure happiness and the courage of youth.”
Involuntarily he held out his hand.
“Will you”—he began. His voice fell and broke. “Will you go with me?” he ended.
He saw that she was troubled.
“Now?” she faltered.
“Yes—now.”
There was a peculiar pause,—a moment, as it seemed to him, of breathless silence. This silence she broke by her rising slowly from her seat.
“Yes,” she responded, “I will go. Why should I not?”