“Oh, Eric, don’t be cruel! Are you doing this just to frighten me?”
“No! I’m thinking of your future. If you married him, do you feel that you’d both be happy?”
“I should never be happy, if anything happened to you.”
“Darling Ivy, leave me out for a minute! Imagine you’d never met me. Do you feel that you’d be happy with him?”
“If I’d never met you?... But, Eric—”
“You really love him, Ivy? Do you love him more than me?”
“Don’t torture me! I could never love any one as I love you. Johnnie’s quite different; I feel quite differently about him... Eric, it isn’t kind not to tell me.”
She drew her hand back and leaned forward, throwing her arms round his neck. He kissed her forehead and dried the tear-rivulets on her cheeks. Then he unlocked her fingers and stood up, turning half away.
“I’ll tell you, Ivy,” he said. “I asked you this morning whether you’d wait two years—”
“I will! You know I will!”