"Never! We never have been friends, my darling, and we never can be! I loved you from the first moment when I heard your voice, from the first moment when I saw your face in the full lamplight. I was never your friend only, and I never shall be. I was and am your lover, and I shall be your husband!"
"I was only flirting!" she cried in desperation. "I thought you were in love with Clare Cavan! You flirted with her, I flirted with you. I—I have no real feeling for you at all! It was just a little petty triumph to get you away from her!"
The words died on her lips. He had stopped in the middle of the gravel-path and had drawn up her hands upon his shoulders.
"I told you not to touch me!" she faltered.
"Lina," he whispered, "Lina dear, even in fun I can't let you speak of yourself like that!"
He drew her tenderly into his arms. Her heart was beating madly and convulsive sobs began to shake her frame.
"Why do you torment me?" she cried, breaking into a storm of tears. "Can't you see that I am in earnest—that I am trying to find any excuse to free myself from my promise to you? I cannot marry you—I will not marry you! It is of no use to ask me for reasons! On my word of honour I am in earnest—I was never more in earnest in my life! It has all been a mistake from the beginning. I can never be your wife!"
"Lina!"
"It is of no use," she cried, hysterically, "to remonstrate with me or to appeal to my feelings. I have no feelings where men are concerned. I was always a flirt—Mrs. Melville could have told you that. At Norwood the foreign masters used to propose to me; but I never cared. It is all vanity with me and I don't know what love means!"
"Lina!"