"Listen to me," I said quietly, paying no heed to her request, except to tighten my clasp just so much as I dared.
Such a waist it was, yielding, supple, and warm; it was maddening to have to restrain the muscles in my arm and regulate their pressure. The blood went to my brain, and it was with a severe effort I collected my thoughts.
"You say," I continued, "that I must not go. Lucia, there is only one single condition on which I will stay."
"What is it?" she murmured.
She had ceased to resist my arm now. The colour was hot in her face, and her eyes confused.
"That you name some definite and definitive date for our marriage."
"This question again! How you do torture me! It worries me to have to think about it!"
"I know, dearest; that is why I say, settle something, and don't think about it any more."
"How can you be so absurd!" she answered, leaning her head back against the chair, and averting her soft, flushed face as far from me as she could, so successfully that there was little view of anything except the white throat and under-part of her chin as she strained her head back from me.
"Please let things go on as they are."