He hesitated. She had to turn away her head that he might not see the light that had returned to her eyes. 'Well, what then?' she said softly.
'I do not know.'
'But Lady Carlisle was his wife,' she whispered, with a swift sidelong shot from eyes instantly averted. 'And--you remember what you said to me--at Oxford? That if I were a lady, you would make me your wife. I am not a lady, Sir George.'
'I did not say that,' Sir George answered quickly.
'No! What then?'
'You know very well,' he retorted with malice.
All of her cheek and neck that he could see turned scarlet. 'Well, at any rate,' she said, 'let us be sure now that you are talking not to Clarissa but to Pamela?'
'I am talking to neither,' he answered manfully. And he stood erect, his hat in his hand; they were almost of a height. 'I am talking to the most beautiful woman in the world,' he said, 'whom I also believe to be the most virtuous--and whom I hope to make my wife. Shall it be so, Julia?'
She was trembling excessively; she used her fan that he might not see how her hand shook. 'I--I will tell you to-morrow,' she murmured breathlessly. 'At Manton Corner.'
'Now! Now!' he said.