"Quite determined—only too grateful for the chance."
"And nothing would keep you here?"
"Nothing that I can imagine—except absolute incapacity for the work."
"You would not stop even if"—and she bent forward, with hands tightly clasped to prevent them jumping visibly before him, and eyes that shone like stars. God! how beautiful she was!—"if I begged you to do so?"
He jumped up hastily.
"If you——? If you begged me to—what?"
And her bright eyes, fixed intently on his lean face, caught the sudden fierce clench of the teeth inside, which threw the cheek-bones into bolder prominence. She noted it—she could almost hear the grinding of his teeth; and the game was in her hands. She had the advantage of understanding what the game was, while he was completely in the dark.
He stood gazing down at her for a moment, and then said more quietly—
"I'm afraid I don't quite understand. Perhaps my illness has dulled my brain somewhat."
"No, it hasn't, Mr. Blair. I was asking you in cold blood if you would not stay in England and marry me, and use my money from here for the furtherance of the cause out there."