"It is unchanged."
"Then why not marry me?"
"Because you do not care for me."
"I felt certain you would say that. But I do care for you. Should I be here if I did not? We are two middle-aged people, Magdalen. The old raptures and roses would be out of place, but I have always cared for you. Surely you know that. Have you forgotten the old days?"
"No."
"Neither have I. All we have to do is to forget the years between." As he spoke he felt that the thing could hardly have been better put.
"I have no wish to forget them."
He had made a great effort to control his temper, but he found her unreasonable. His anger got the upper hand.
"It is one of two things that makes you refuse me. Either you can't forgive me, and I daresay I don't deserve that you should, I am not posing as a faultless character—or you have ceased to love me. Which is it?"
"I have not ceased to love you," she replied. "Have I not just told you so? But you would find yourself miserable in the—lop-sided kind of marriage which you are contemplating. It is unwise to try to make bricks without straw."