‘I did not know that you felt like this, though I confess that I have had my—my doubts.’
‘Doubts!—I thank you.’
‘You are quite aware, Mr Atherton, that I like you very much.’
‘Like me!—Bah!’
‘I cannot help liking you,—though it may be “bah.”’
‘I don’t want you to like me,—I want you to love me.’
‘Precisely,—that is your mistake.’
‘My mistake!—in wanting you to love me!—when I love you—’
‘Then you shouldn’t,—though I can’t help thinking that you are mistaken even there.’
‘Mistaken!—in supposing that I love you!—when I assert and reassert it with the whole force of my being! What do you want me to do to prove I love you,—take you in my arms and crush you to my bosom, and make a spectacle of you before every creature in the place?’