"I very much DISLIKE it!" he said, emphatically—"But then I'm quite an unsociable person. You see I've lived alone here for ten years—- "
"And you want to go on living alone for another ten years—I see!" said Maryllia—"Well! So you shall! I promise I won't interfere!"
He looked at her half appealingly.
"I don't think you understand,"—he said,—then paused.
"Oh yes, I understand perfectly!" And she smiled radiantly. "You like to be left quite to yourself, with your books and flowers, and the bits of glass for the rose-window in the church. By the bye, I must help you with that rose-window! I will get you some genuine old pieces—and if I find any very rare specimens of medieval blue or crimson you'll be so pleased that you'll forget all about that cigarette—you know you will!"
"Miss Vancourt,"—he began earnestly—"if you will only believe that it is because I think so highly of you—because you have seemed to me so much above the mere society woman that I—-I—-"
"I know!" she said, very softly—"I quite see your point of view!"
"You are not of the modern world,"—he went on, slowly—"Not in your heart—not in your real tastes and sentiments;—not yet, though you may possibly be forced to become one with it after your marriage—-"
"And when will that be?" she interrupted him smiling.
His clear, calm blue eyes rested upon her gravely and searchingly.