"Oh, TRY! Do. TRY!" he urged. "I couldn't think who'd marry YOU—indade I couldn't. Mebbe the poor girl's BLIND. Is THAT it?"
"Can't you guess? No? Really?"
"NO, I'm tellin' ye. Who is it?"
"YOU!"
The moment had come. The die was cast. His life was in the hands of Fate—and of Peg. He waited breathlessly for the effect.
Peg looked at him in blank astonishment.
All expression had left her face.
Then she leaned back against the balustrade and laughed long and unrestrainedly. She laughed until the tears came coursing down her cheeks.
Alaric was at first nonplussed. Then he grasped the situation in its full significance. It was just a touch of hysteria. He joined her and laughed heartily as well.
"Aha!" he cried, between laughs: "That's a splendid sign. Splendid! I've always been told that girls CRY when they're proposed to."