"Oh, Konni, have mercy on me!" she implored. She had slid down from her seat in order to clasp his knees. Now she cowered on the floor between the sofa and his chair.
"There is no need for me to have mercy, or for you to have mercy!" he exclaimed. "Till to-day you have been the holiest thing on earth to me. But I cannot submit to being brushed away like a fly. Tell me why you won't marry me. One plausible reason will satisfy me. When you have given it, I promise never to return to the subject."
"Give me till to-morrow," she moaned.
"Why till to-morrow? To-day is the same thing. I cannot go through another night of torturing suspense."
"I'll write."
He was evidently amazed. "Write? What is there to write?"
"Whether I may or not. The reasons and everything."
"Some way out of it will come to me in the night," she thought.
"When shall I get the letter?"
"To-morrow morning by the first post."