"No; but I wish I was."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because——" She was trying to wring the neck off a little china image now. "Oh, Vincent, don't think me very unkind! but I—I'd rather, another time, you didn't show your cousinly affection quite in that way. That's all."
He covered his eyes with one hand to shut out the sight of Audrey.
"No, that's not all, I see. There's something else behind that,—there must be. Has anything happened?"
She bowed her head and sighed, a long shivering sigh. The china image slipped through her fingers, and was broken to bits on the hearthstone.
"Audrey—what is it?"
He took her by the wrists and drew her gently to him. As he touched her he saw her face whiten and her eyes dilate.
"Do you remember last year when you said you loved me?—when you promised to be my wife? Do you remember how you said good-bye to me then? Now you won't speak to me. What have you been doing to make you hate me? Or what stupid idea have you got into your head about me?"
"Nothing—nothing. Only—I want you to understand that what you said just now is out of the question. It can't be."