“Look here, Georges, don’t beat about the bush, pray; if you have anything to say or to ask of me, come out with it straight away, without mincing matters, that is quite unnecessary with me!” she resumed almost reproachfully, but with such an encouraging tenderness that he grasped her white hand, and with playful gallantry raised it to his lips.
“And now, allons! fire away!” Emilie urged, giving him a light tap under the chin.
He was forced to speak, he could not go back, and he gathered up his courage and began slowly in broken sentences, but soon came to the point. His position—would she think it very foolish of him, if he—thought of getting married? There was a tremor in his voice, as though his fate depended on her answer.
His words took her by surprise; despite his twenty-four years, she still looked upon him in some way as her boy, her pet child, and—he thought of getting married! But notwithstanding the superficial gloss of his airy manner, she knew him to be manly and sensible; he would not ask her such a thing if he had not thoroughly thought it out, and it would be wrong of her to wound him, perhaps in a deep-seated affection, by one word of banter. Still she felt alarmed at the thought of sooner or later losing him.
“Marry! Georges, do you really think of it?”
He smiled, as though charmed at some bright vision.
“Why not?” he asked, almost in a whisper.
“Are you—are you then—so much in love?” she asked softly. [[125]]“Is it——?” and a name rose to her lips, but she failed to pronounce it.
He nodded his head, laughingly, as though he knew that she had guessed right. Some time before his departure to Berlin, already she had teased him about Lili Verstraeten, about whom he always had such a lot to say. But now that he acknowledged it, she felt disappointed. How did he know that Lili could care for him? Was he not building castles in the air? But she did not give expression to the thought; she would not shatter his illusion, he seemed so happy in his quiet hopefulness.
“Georges, if you are in earnest, really—well, let us consider now,” and she moved her chair closer to his. “Suppose it all goes smoothly at first, say you propose, and she accepts you, what then? How long won’t you have to wait before it can come to a marriage?”