"No?"
"I'm not even a third-rate hero."
"No?" with gentle raillery.
"Say you love me!"
"Amo, ama, amiamo . . ."
"In English; I have never heard it in English."
"So," pushing back from him, "you have heard it in Italian?"
"Laura, I didn't mean that! There was never any one else. Say it!"
So she said it softly; she repeated it, as though the utterance was as sweet to her lips as it was to his ears. And then, for the first time, she became supine in his arms. With his cheek touching the hair on her brow, they together watched but did not see the final conquest of the day.
"And I have had the courage to ask you to be my wife?" It was wonderful.