"Nothing can——"
"Something greater——"
"I don't care for the sample you showed me," she returned quietly.
"I was crazy, Beth. I lost my head. It won't happen again."
"No. I know it won't——"
"You don't understand. It couldn't. I've made a fool of myself. Isn't it enough for me to admit that?"
"I knew it all the time." She was cruel, and from her cruelty he guessed the measure of her pride.
"I've done all I can to atone. I want you to know that I love you. I do, Beth. I love you——"
There was a note in his voice different from that she had heard the other day. His head was bent and he did not hear the little gasp or see the startled look in her eyes, which she controlled before he raised his head. With great deliberateness she answered him.
"Maybe you and I—have a different idea of what love ought to be," she said. But he saw that her reproof was milder.