“Don’t!” gasped Barnes.
“Don’t?”
“You—you oughtn’t to repeat those things.”
“I’d almost be glad to be just her brother if she talked that way about me.”
There was a long pause. Then Langdon resumed,
“Have I your permission to ask her?”
“My permission?”
“If you’d rather, I’ll wait.”
Barnes took a long breath. Then he grasped Langdon’s hand again.
“No,” he said earnestly, “I don’t think I’d wait very long.”