During the evening Wallace took me into the conservatory to see the flowers, and it was not my fault that everyone went out and left us alone. I tried to be cold and chilling, but that only made him anxious to discover what was wrong.
“It is my fault! I know quite well it is my fault,” he cried, bending over me, his face so drawn and puckered with anxiety that he looked quite old. “I am a stupid, blundering fellow, and you have been an angel to be so sweet and forbearing. I am not fit to come near you, but I would rather cut off my right hand than hurt you in any way. You know that, don’t you, Una?”
He had never called me Una before, and he looked so different from the calm, complacent youth I had known a few weeks before—so much older and more formidable, that it was difficult to believe it could be the same person. I was frightened, but tried hard to appear cool and self-possessed.
“I am not vexed at all. On the contrary, I am enjoying myself very much. The flowers are lovely. I always—”
It was no use. He seized my hand, and cried pleadingly—
“Don’t put me off, Una; don’t trifle with me. It’s too serious for that. You are cold to me to-night, and it has come to this, that I cannot live when you are not kind. What has changed you since this afternoon? Were you vexed with me for bringing you those roses?”
“Not in the least, so far as I am concerned; but your people seemed astonished. It made me feel a little awkward.”
He looked at once relieved and puzzled. “But they know!” he cried. “They know quite well. They would not be astonished at my giving you anything. Has Lorna never told you that she knows?”
“I really fail to understand what there is to know,” I said, sitting up very straight and stiff, looking as haughty and unapproachable as I possibly could. It was coming very close. I knew it, though I never had the experience before, and I would have given anything in the world to escape. Oh, how can girls like to have proposals from men whom they don’t mean to accept? How can they bring themselves to boast of them as if they were a triumph and a pride? I never felt so humiliated in my life as I did when I sat there and listened to Wallace’s wild words.
“What is there to know? Only that I love you with all my heart and strength—that I have loved you ever since the moment I first saw your sweet face. You did not seem like a stranger, for I had been waiting for you all my life. Oh, Una, these few weeks have been like a dream of happiness. I never knew what it was to live before. You are so—”