"Objection? What is that?"
"I don't want to."
"What?" asked Dolores, in surprise.
Ashby hesitated for a moment, and then said, with an effort,
"I thought before we left that I loved her; but since I have seen you again—I feel—that I do not."
These words were spoken rapidly, in a low, feverish whisper. At first Dolores started as though she had been shot. Then she averted her face, and held up her hands deprecatingly.
"Ah," said she, in a sad voice, "that is all idle, idle, idle, foolish, foolish, foolish compliment, and nothing more. You must not say that again, or I will never forgive you—never, never!"
At this Ashby was brought back to his senses with a sudden and wholesome shock, and said no more upon that point. In fact, he now felt afraid that he had said altogether too much.