"Why didn't you keep getting fonder and fonder of those others, then?"
"I think that question most unseemly. You don't seem to realize I'm asking you to be my wife."
"M-m! It is hard to."
"Oh, don't be clever. Every one's clever. What are you waiting for?"
No answer.
"Shall I tell you?"
"If you think you know, dear."
"You're waiting until there's not one little bit left of the girl I fell in love with, the girl who tried to hide her bare arms under Perse's ruffle in the hall at Lulford, and who cried by the cot where my poor little urchin was dying. You've never forgiven me that cursed night in Mount Street."
"Dear! I've never mentioned it from that day to this."
"Well, it's behind everything you say. It's behind your eyes when they look at me. Can't you understand I wasn't myself."