"God forbid!" I said, aghast at this view of things.
"Then have done with informing," she answered, with a little spurt of heat. "Or let be, at any rate, until we are safe ourselves and snug in the country. Then if you choose, and you do nothing to hurt my uncle--for I will not have him touched--we may talk of it. But not for money."
Those words "safe and snug," telling of a prospect that at that moment seemed of all others the most desirable in the world, dwelt so lovingly on my ear, that in place of hesitation I felt only eagerness and haste.
"I will go!" I said.
"You will?" she said.
"Yes," I answered.
"And----"
"And what?" I said, wondering.
She hesitated a moment, and then, "That is for you to say," she replied, lowering her eyes.
It is possible that I might not have understood her, even then, if I had not marked her face, and seen that her lips were quivering with a sudden shyness, which words and manner in vain belied. She blushed, and trembled; and, lowering her eyes, drew forward the shawl that covered her head, the street-urchin gone out of her. And I, seeing and understanding, had other and new thoughts of her which remained with me. "If you mean that," I said, clumsily, "I will make you my wife--if you will let me."