“Then don’t give the answer to-night. I can wait,” he interrupted. “I am just on the threshold of a great career. Success is sure. I can offer you a dazzling position. Don’t give me such an answer. Leave the old answer—to wait.”
“No, I will not. I do not love you. If you were to become the President, it would not change this fact, and it is everything.”
“Then you love another.”
“That is none of your business, sir. I have known you since childhood. I have had ample time to know my own mind.”
“All right, we will say good-bye for the present. You have made me a laughing stock of young fools, but I can stand it. I’ll not give you up, and if I can’t have you, no other man shall.”
“If you leave my will out of the calculation, you will make a fatal mistake.”
“Women have been known to change their wills.”
Before leaving her that night Gaston held her hand for an instant as he bade her good-bye and said, “Miss Sallie, I thank you with inexpressible gratitude for the honour you have done me.”
“I’ve just been wondering what you have done to deserve it?”
“Absolutely nothing,—that’s why it is so sweet. This has been the happiest day I ever lived. I cannot see you again before you go. I leave to-morrow on urgent business. May I come to Independence to see you?”