"And perhaps"—her voice was scarcely audible now—"perhaps you cannot take more than you are able to keep?"
She looked down in confusion, hardly knowing what she had said, only that she had been forced to say it.
He sat watching her for a while thoughtfully, as if he had heard something new and unexpected, and was pondering over it.
"You must have known yourself that I could never keep—or keep to—anyone," he said at last.
"I know that," she answered; "you don't want to."
It was as if a fine, sharp thorn had pierced him to the heart, and left its point there. The two sat looking at each other without a word.
"And if I would…." He grasped her hand earnestly. "Do you think I might dare?"
The girl turned pale, and did not speak.
"Answer me," he said insistently.
"Surely each must know that for himself," she answered at last, speaking with difficulty.