"I do not understand you."
"You drove me away, and you have forced me to return—must I leave again? I cannot remain near you any longer with our relation to each other unchanged. I must have your love or nothing. Friendship between us, and nothing more, is out of the question. Can you not learn to love me, Medoline?"
I turned and placed both my hands in his.
"Does this mean love instead of fear? Remember you told me not long ago you were afraid of me; answer me truly, little one; do hand and heart go together?"
"If you care to have them," I murmured softly, "but, have you forgotten Mrs. Le Grande?"
"Long ago I ceased to think of her, only as one may remember a brief surrender to an ignoble passion. The mistake I made was in measuring womanhood generally by her standard—you have taught me, my darling, that angels have not yet ceased to visit our poor earth."
"Oh, Mr. Winthrop, you must not go to the other extreme or I shall soon disappoint you."
"You are all I could wish, Medoline. If it were possible I would not ask any change in mind or body, my Eve—fresh from the hand of God."
His words frightened me; for how could I ever fulfill his expectations? He read my face.
"Are you sure, Medoline, you love me as I want to be loved by my wife? Have you gained your woman's heart with its full capacity for love or suffering, or are you still only a child?"