‘That is too abstruse a question in metaphysics,’ she answered, laughingly. ‘I only know that my heart chose you, and that papa’s will—I must call him by the old name—did not influence my choice. Don’t you think that is quite enough for you to know?’
‘It is all I desire to know, my loveliest. Or not quite all. I should like to know—out of mere idle curiosity—when you first began to think me not altogether despicable.’
‘Do you want the history of the case from the very beginning?’
‘From the eggs to the apples, from the very first instant when your heart began to beat a little more kindly for me than for all the rest of the world.’
‘I will tell you——’
She paused, and looked up at him with a smile of innocent coquetry.
‘Yes, dearest.’
‘When you have told me the history of your life, from the instant when I became more to you than the common herd of women.’
His first answer was a deep sigh.
‘Ah, dear love, my case was different. I struggled against my passion.’