"Magdalen," he said, "I am distressed that I have taken you by surprise. I had hoped that you were prepared to see me. But my coming is not, I trust, painful to you."
A pulse fluttered in her cheek.
"I am glad to see you," she said. "If I did not seem so the first moment it was only because I was taken aback."
"A great change has come over my fortunes," he continued, anxious to give her time, and yet aware that no conversation except on the object of his visit was really possible. "I am at last in a position to marry."
"When I heard the news I thought that you would probably marry soon."
"Our engagement was broken off solely for lack of means," he continued. Her eyes dropped. "Now that that obstacle is removed I have come to ask you, to beg you most earnestly to renew it."
"It is very good of you," she said almost inaudibly. "I appreciate your—kindness."
He saw that she was going to refuse him. But he was prepared for that contingency. It was a natural feminine method of readjusting the balance between them. He would certainly give her the opportunity. He owed it to her. Besides, the refusal would not be final. He knew from her relations that she still loved him.
"If your feeling towards me is unchanged will you marry me?"
The door opened, and the footman announced "Mr. Thomson."