"They're the finest love verses in the English language. They might have been written to you. They're quite the best thing in the Bible."
She was perplexed, and showed it in her face; then, she looked appealingly to him for enlightenment. He disregarded the entreaty in her eyes. He looked at her from head to foot before saying:
"Little Mavis, little Mavis, why are you so alluring?"
"Don't talk nonsense. I'm not a bit," she replied, as something seemed to tighten at her heart.
"You are, you are. You've soul and body, an irresistible combination," he declared ardently.
His words troubled her; she looked about her, large-eyed, afraid; she did not once glance in his direction.
Then she felt his grasp upon her wrist and the pressure of his lips upon her wounded hand.
"Forgive me: forgive me!" he cried. "But I know you never will."
"Don't, don't," she murmured.
"Are you very angry?"