“No,” said Dick, “it’s very natural from my point of view. You see, I fell in love with you the first time we met; but I got into disgrace soon afterwards and have had a bad time since. This made it impossible for me to tell you what I felt; but things are beginning to improve——”
He stopped, seeing no encouragement in her expression, for Clare was fighting a hard battle. His blunt simplicity made a strong appeal. She had liked and trusted him when he had with callow but honest chivalry offered her his protection one night in England and he had developed fast since then. Hardship had strengthened and in a sense refined him. He looked resolute and soldierlike as he waited. Still, for his sake as well as hers, she must refuse.
“Then you must be easily moved,” she said. “You knew nothing about me.”
“I’d seen you; that was quite enough,” Dick declared and stopped. Her look was gentler and he might do better if he could lessen the distance between them and take her hand; he feared he had been painfully matter-of-fact. Perhaps he was right, but the table stood in the way, and if he moved round it, she would take alarm. It was exasperating to be baulked by a piece of furniture.
“Besides,” he resumed, “when everybody doubted me, you showed your confidence. You wrote and said——”
“But you told me you tore up the letter,” Clare interrupted.
Dick got confused. “I did; I was a fool, but the way things had been going was too much for me. You ought to understand and try to make allowances.”
“I cannot understand why you want to marry a girl you think a thief.”
Pulling himself together, Dick gave her a steady look. “I can’t let that pass, though if I begin to argue I’m lost. In a way, I’m at your mercy, because my defense can only make matters worse. But I tried to explain on board the launch.”
“The explanation wasn’t very convincing,” Clare remarked, turning her head. “Do you still believe I took your papers?”