"That—if you could ever learn to care for me—we might try—" He stopped short.
For two years he had not ventured such a thing to her. The quick, bright anger warned him from her eyes. But she said quietly: "You know that is utterly impossible."
"Is it impossible. Shiela?"
"Absolutely. And a trifle offensive."
He said pleasantly: "I was afraid so, but I wanted to be sure. I did not mean to offend you. People change and mature in two years.... I suppose you are as angrily impatient of sentiment in a man as you were then."
"I cannot endure it—"
Her voice died out and she blushed furiously as the memory of Hamil flashed in her mind.
"Shiela," he said quietly, "now and then there's a streak of misguided decency in me. It cropped out that winter day when I did what I did. And I suppose it's cropping up now when I ask you, for your own sake, to get rid of me and give yourself a chance."
"How?"
"Legally."