Susan interrupted him with: "Oh, mamma will agree."
He went on quickly: "No, you do not know her. She will be more vexed and angrier than your father. You will see how she will refuse. But you must be firm, you must not give way, you must repeat that you want to marry me, and no one else. Will you do this?"
"I will."
"On leaving your mother you must tell your father the same thing in a very serious and decided manner."
"Yes, yes; and then?"
"And then it is that matters become serious. If you are determined, very determined—very, very determined to be my wife, my dear, dear little Susan—I will—run away with you."
She experienced a joyful shock, and almost clapped her hands. "Oh! how delightful. You will run away with me. When will you run away with me?"
All the old poetry of nocturnal elopements, post-chaises, country inns; all the charming adventures told in books, flashed through her mind, like an enchanting dream about to be realized. She repeated: "When will you run away with me?"
He replied, in low tones: "This evening—to-night."
She asked, quivering: "And where shall we go to?"