“Possibly because you are better fitted to command.”
“I am just exactly what I used to be.”
“Pardon,—you are changing.”
“What do you think I am changing from?”
“A wayward bit of girlish obstinacy, fretting at the idea of being bound to me, to a woman in love with her fetters and the person to whom they bind her.”
“Your conceit is perfectly overcoming. I am just the same as ever. I am not in love with you. This—this feeling that has taken possession of me is one of profound gratitude.”
“Profound gratitude! Did gratitude make you wretched when you were at the Forrests?”
“That was only loneliness. I know that I have not fallen in love with you because—because—”
“Because what?”
“You will laugh at me.”