“If they insist upon it!” He shook his head at her in rather uneasy surprise.
“I have told Jack that I cannot marry him unless he has your full consent.”
Again the wide gray eyes looked out fearlessly upon the rather bewildered gentleman. They could hardly refrain from a smile at his growing perplexity. But there was something other than perplexity in his tone when at last he said, “You know of course that I cannot possibly give it.”
“Of course not.”
“You give up your young man—simply because of that?”
The unhesitating reply seemed to increase his surprise. This girl was taking him into deeper places than he had ever been in before. He shook his head at her in a whimsical fashion which she thought quite charming. “It hardly does, you know, to be too bright and good for human nature’s daily food,” he said with a softness in his deep voice, which was enchanting.
“Oh, I’m very far from being that.” She smiled and shook her head. “I won’t own that I’m as bad as all that—at least I hope I’m not.”
“But if you insist on being so uncommonly self-sacrificing, you’re in danger, aren’t you?”
“One can’t call it self-sacrifice altogether.”