“And that can be avoided. I’ll take you away—throw up everything here—make a new start somewhere else.”
“No! no!” She shook her head. “Your work is here, and I am just as proud of it as you could be. Let them chatter. No, it isn’t even that.”
“Then what is it?”
“You wouldn’t understand. It is silly, just a woman’s reason. No, you would not understand.”
“I’ll try.”
“It is so foolish.” Nevertheless, encouraged by his sympathy, she continued: “Do you know that since the first kiss passed between us a year ago we have had speech together only for a few minutes in the presence of others? And her courtship is of such supreme importance in a girl’s life. It is her love time, and she loves to lengthen and draw out its lingering sweetness. And ours has been so short.”
It was the poignant cry of her girl’s heart expressing the yearning of her starved love, and, coming from such spirited lips, it moved him deeply. Slipping the oars, he seized her two hands and pulled her forward into his arms. Then, while her dark head lay pillowed upon his shoulder, he continued the argument to better advantage.
The walls of San Nicolas had dwindled to a golden streak before she looked up in his face. “Supposing that I had refused?”
“I’d have carried you off in spite of yourself.”