"Very well. Now this is the solemn truth. Not only have I never loved any other woman before you, but I've never even made the mistake of thinking a passing fancy was the real thing. I've never burned incense at the shrine of any false goddess. In my heart I've loved you all my life—that is, the idea of you, Evarne. I've worshipped you and waited for you, sweetheart, and now, thank God, I've found you."
She answered very gently and slowly, her heart glowing with triumph and delight at his avowal.
"If it were possible, I should care for you even more after hearing you say that. But how can I love you more than to the very uttermost of my nature, and I believe I have done that from the first."
Geoffrey found this frank and unaffected confession more adorable than any coquettish hesitation could have proved.
"But even if I had not been able to win your heart, I should still have loved you always and ever, and held myself your knight, ready to obey your slightest or your most difficult command, my queen," he avowed with boyish enthusiasm. "I feel that it was preordained that I should love you, and I should have readily fulfilled my fate, even if you had never been able to care for me in return."
She sighed and shook her head.
"Ah, Geoffrey, do you love me indeed? Almost I doubt it."
"You doubt it? Evarne!"
"You can't imagine what I mean? Sit by my side and I'll explain."
Reclining delightfully in Geoff's arms, her slender arched feet curled up on the couch, she expounded her startling statement.