"I couldn't bear the thought of it," she answered under her breath.
"But I can't go on staying here, except as your husband. I think we could be content enough."
She turned her head away from him; a happy smile struggled to her lips. He saw that she trembled. He rose and pulled her gently from her seat, and they stood together in front of the fireplace.
"Well?" he asked.
"I don't know what folk would say."
"Does it matter? We shall live outside the world, not in it."
"And then you never go to church?"
"I will make an exception to the rule by taking you there for half an hour while the parson prays over us. How is it to be? Perhaps you should think it over before you answer. I have nothing to give you—"
"Oh—" she raised her eyes and looked at him reproachfully.
"I am a poor man, with a couple of hundred a year, and no more to come. I can be no help to you in your home, but I want nothing more from it than I have now. You can keep it all for Hannah by-and-by. Well?" he asked again.