After a silence she lifted her lovely head and looked up at me out of beautiful, distressed eyes that dumbly asked indulgence.
"Well, then, you need not tell me, Thusis."
"You'll know, some day."
"I'll know, some day, why I won you in spite of everything."
She gently shook her head.
"Yes," said I, "I shall win you, Thusis."
"My heart—perhaps."
"Your mind, too."
We remained so, for a while, not speaking lest the spell be broken. And at last she slowly disengaged herself from my arms, then, confronting me, placed both her hands in mine with a sudden impulse that thrilled me.
"Let it remain this way, then," she said. "Win my heart, if you care to. I don't mind going through life with my heart in your kind keeping, Michael. I had rather it were so. I should be less unhappy."