"A little; but do not think I make much of it. It is a mere childish matter."
"You do not think anything else?"
"Nothing else," he said, with a look that again disconcerted me, "I have indeed advised—"
"Oh! speak not of advice," I interrupted eagerly. "You know that my pleasure is to please you, that I do my own will when I do yours, Cornelius."
"You believe that," he replied, "but can I, Daisy?"
"Put me to the test then!"
We stood side by side. He passed his arm around me, and drew me towards him.
"You bid me put you to the test," he said.
"Yes," I replied, but my heart beat fast.
"There was a time," he resumed with a look of jealous reproach, "when I was, I will not say the only friend you had, but the only friend you thought of or cared for."