“Please!” he cried, “Mrs. Landray, you must let me speak!”
She turned on him swiftly; her eyes wide with wonder at the change that had come over him.
There was dead silence in the room.
Now that he had spoken, now that circumstances had led him on until there was no turning back, he could have bitten off his tongue that had betrayed him.
What she felt he could only guess; but it was clearly none of those emotions he might have expected to arouse. It was not embarrassment, it was not dismay; the look on her face was one of angry wonder.
He felt his cheeks pale under the steady glance with which she regarded him, and he was aware of a swift sense of pity for himself. Had he waited and struggled for this! After the years of patient devotion he had rendered her, was she so unmoved in the presence of his love; did it mean so little to her!
“You know it now!” he said in a low voice.