“What is that worth?” he asked almost resentfully.
“Perhaps more than all the rest.” She took a step forward and set her hand upon his arm. There was no mistaking now her smile. It was all tenderness, and her eyes were shining. “Ned, there is only one thing to be done.”
He looked down at her who was only a little less tall than himself, and the colour faded from his own face now.
“You haven’t understood me after all,” he said. “I was afraid you would not. I have no clear gift of words, and if I had, I am trying to say something that would overtax any gift.”
“On the contrary, Ned, I understand you perfectly. I don’t think I have ever understood you until now. Certainly never until now could I be sure of what I hoped.”
“Of what you hoped?” His voice sank as if in awe. “What?” he asked.
She looked away, and her persisting, yet ever-changing smile grew slightly arch.
“You do not then intend to ask me to marry you?” she said.
“How could I?” It was an explosion almost of anger. “You yourself suggested that it would be an insult; and so it would. It is to take advantage of the position into which your foolish generosity has betrayed you. Oh!” he clenched his fists and shook them a moment at his sides.
“Very well,” she said. “In that case I must ask you to marry me.”