“It’s so hard to put it into words. I am ever so fond of you, Arthur. And I do want to be loved. You—you have drawn a picture which moves me more than I can say. But somehow you haven’t swept me bang off my feet. And that is my fault, not yours. Perhaps—I don’t know—I am simply incapable of—of letting myself go. And when I look at mother and other women of my family, I wonder if they are all like that. I wonder if—if it is part of the curse——”
“The curse? Bless my soul!”
“I mean the curse of belonging to families that think it right and wise to suppress feeling. I am half Chandos and half Danecourt. Mother and Uncle have never let themselves go. They couldn’t. It is part of their nature to wear a mask. They wear it night and day. Till it becomes a sort of hard crust. I—I wish I could talk as Tiddy does.”
“I understand, Cicely. I think you put it most awfully well. But this feeling will come. I should hate to have you——” he paused, and ended with the words which had made such an impression on him: “Yelp and rush at me.”
“Do you mean that you want me as I am, that you will trust to chance about my caring properly later?”
“Trust to chance? No, no. I have never trusted to chance. I am confident, dear, that I shall make you care if you give yourself to me. The feelings you speak of are dormant. It will be my great privilege to awaken them.”
He kissed the cheek slightly turned from him.
The fence had been leaped.
And afterwards, just what he had envisaged came to pass easily and naturally. The selection of a right engagement ring was discussed, a visit to London, all the pleasant little plans so dear to people about to marry. Before they sought Lady Selina, Cicely asked a direct question:
“You will help to make things better in Upworthy?”