"You must decide, Babs."
"No!"
She buried her face in her hands and sobbed so wildly that he expected at any moment to see his maid's head at the door. For a while he was stoically unmoved; then the crying gave him a pain at the heart, and he stepped forward, only to pull up before he threw away his victory.
"Eric, don't," she cried, as soon as she had mastery of her voice.
"You must decide," he repeated.
"And if I say 'no'?"
"I've said you were under no obligation to me."
"But—you'll turn me away? If I came to you to-morrow and said I'd changed my mind——"
"It would be too late."
She steadied herself and turned round, bending for her gloves and then drawing herself upright to face him.