"I did," he answered.
"And why did you not then speak to me on the subject?"
"Because it wasn't ripe!"
"Ripe? If you have any meaning in these obscure hints, why do you not explain it for your own sake, since you can not believe that I will submit patiently to your insane threats? Again I ask you, did you, or did you not, promote these attentions by every artifice and suggestion in your power?"
"I did."
"Did you not watch them anxiously, forward them daily, and exult in their progress, until you became secretly convinced that both Astræa's feelings and mine were engaged beyond recall?"
"I did—I did—I did!" roared the dwarf.
"Did you not produce this very result yourself? Did you not seek it, urge it, fan it to its height, and even glory in the flame you had nursed so cunningly?"
"I did—I did—I did!" he shrieked, his whole body seeming to take part in the frenzy that convulsed him.
"Fiend!" I cried; "inexplicable devil! what would you have, then? What is your aim in thus coming with your curses between us?"