"No, that is not it," he said scornfully, rising and again approaching her. "You know better. You exhilarate me—you wake me up; and I need to be stimulated. So you've got it back in your little brain to marry me," he said, looking down with amused contemplation at the reclining figure, that was not so much human as a perfumed bed of flowers; "that is, if I pull through and keep my head above water."
He hesitated a moment, and then said:
"Why did you keep me waiting? Just to annoy me?"
"I wonder," she said, looking up from under her eyelashes at his towering figure. "Perhaps it was to teach you some things are difficult."
"That's it, eh?"
"Perhaps—and I'm afraid I shall irritate you many more times."
He took a step nearer and said abruptly:
"Look out! I don't play fair."
"Neither do I," she said.
She took the button up again, frowning in a nonchalant way, and held it a moment while she waited for his decision. He shrugged his shoulders and stood back, taking several steps toward the center of the room.