“Do you mean you would marry me now, if you could, and disregard the doubtfulness of the future?”
“But you haven't asked me yet... how can I tell?”
“Would you, dear?”... tenderly.
“Try me. It would be such fun to live just as we could, and not have to make believe. I imagine the worst of poverty is in the thought that some one else knows. Tell me what father said.”
“I have already told you, Barbara.”
“But tell me how it came about. How he led up to it and what you said.”
Philip thought for a moment. When he spoke his manner suggested weariness, as if the recent ordeal had been too much for him.
“Really I am quite collapsed, quite annihilated. What a stunning advantage a young woman's father has over his daughter's 'young man.'.rdquo;
“Won't you answer me?—what was it papa said?”
“Well, we kept clear of sentiment from the start—we canvassed the situation from a purely business basis.”