"Yes, I have reason to remember that interview." He looked at her meaningly and gloated over her blush.
"And now I'm just Agatha," she went on bravely, ignoring her scarlet cheeks. "And the very first words you say to me are to ask me to marry you."
"And they're the words I shall keep saying till you promise."
She shot him a side-long glance. "But what—what about Julia?"
"She was married early in January. They have been spending the winter in Palm Beach, I understand."
"Oh!" There was such compassion in her voice, such pitying tenderness in her eyes that she had a narrow escape from being kissed on the spot.
He compromised by taking her hand. "Listen, dear girl. Let's clear this thing up once for all. I've had a narrow escape. The Julia I loved was no more real than your Hephzibah. I knew my mistake that day when she attacked you at Oak Knoll. The cruelty of it was a revelation. I can't understand now why I listened without protest, but you must remember that I had received a staggering surprise."
"Staggering and cruel!" Her fingers tightened about his. "I tried so hard to tell you everything that day in the woods and I was such a coward that the words wouldn't come. How can you ever forgive me?"
"Hush, dear love! I shall shock this train-load of people if you are not careful. I was too dazed and bewildered that first day to be quite responsible for what I did or left undone. But within twenty-four hours I spoke my mind so plainly as to terminate the friendship between Miss Studley and myself. I have never seen nor heard from her since."
The look she turned on him made him hang his head. The certainty that elates most men, humbles those of finer mold.