"Oh, Daisy! the little girl whom I carried in my arms seven years ago, was willing enough. I had not, even in jest, to hold her hands. She clasped them around my neck lovingly and trustingly, laid her hand on my shoulder, and had but one fear—lest I should leave her behind."
He released me, and added, in his most fervent and beseeching accents:
"Come with me, Daisy; come with me. If you ever cared for me, show it now—come with me. Don't drive me to do something desperate—I tell you that I will never leave Leigh without you. Come with me!"
He had again clasped his arms around me, and held me within a circle more potent than that of any magic spell. I laid my two hands on his shoulders, and smiled up at him, as I replied:
"I should have told you at once, but I was so glad, that I forgot it; and you are so impatient that you won't hear me out. Mr. Thornton has changed his mind—he says I may be with you and Kate again—all on a condition."
"What condition?" he promptly asked.
"I don't know—he will tell it to you himself, and you will agree to it— won't you, Cornelius?"
"No," he replied, impatiently; "this is a snare. Besides, why submit to a condition when I have you here without one? Oh, Daisy! now is the moment. Fate, or rather Providence, has made us meet—we must not have the madness to part again. I have missed one opportunity—I will not miss another. Trust to me. Cast by all thought, all fear—look not behind or before you. Come, Daisy, not to-morrow—not to-night—but now! Come with me—come!"
He rose, as if to lead me away that very moment; but he still held me fast, and that clasp which the passion of the moment only rendered more secure, his flushed face, eager looks, and feverish accents, all breathed the most vehement and ardent entreaty.
Subdued by his resolute tenderness, I yielded, but for a moment only; the next, I rallied and resisted. I made a desperate effort, and, both bodily and mentally, asserted my freedom.