“I will wait,” she said.
“Dearest,” he said, and his voice was shaking, “it would not be fair to let you. There will be other men, rich, who——”
She interrupted by a gesture.
“Do you count my love as little as that?” she said. “Cannot you understand that there is nothing in the world for me but my love for you and your love for me. If you believe as I do that we belong to each other for time and eternity, then how can you——?” She could get no further. He stopped her with such kisses that she was frightened at his vehemence.
“Enough,” he said. “We belong to each other. One day I will claim you.”
“And till then?” she asked.
“For a time,” he said steadily, “we must not meet. It is—wiser not.”
“Because—of what I said?” she asked. The crimson colour had covered her face and neck.
“No,” he answered quietly, “but because I am only a man, and very human.”
And there was something in his voice that told her not to gainsay him.