She struggled to get free, and when in the movement she knocked down the Empress Faustina’s head he did not try to retain her. He saw that she was not only surprised but a little alarmed.
‘You haven’t said why it is nonsense!’ he remarked tartly.
‘Why, I didn’t know you was thinking of me like that. I hadn’t any thought of it! And all alone here! What shall I do?’
‘Say yes, my pretty Avice! We’ll then go out and be married at once, and nobody be any the wiser.’
She shook her head. ‘I couldn’t, sir.’
‘It would be well for you. You don’t like me, perhaps?’
‘Yes I do—very much. But not in that sort of way—quite. Still, I might have got to love you in time, if—’
‘Well, then, try,’ he said warmly. ‘Your mother did!’
No sooner had the words slipped out than Pierston would have recalled them. He had felt in a moment that they jeopardized his cause.
‘Mother loved you?’ said Avice, incredulously gazing at him.