"Thank you very much for the compliment. Sorry I must decline." She did not dare look at him. Her eyes were fixed on the mill far below.
"Why must you—since you love me?"
The telltale pink stained her cheeks. "You take that for granted, do you?"
"It's true, I believe. How can I make love to you as other men do? Lady Farquhar won't let me see you alone—even if you were willing to give me a chance. In two days you are going out of my life. I must speak the truth ... bluntly. I love you. It has been that way with me ever since you came into my life again, little Moya. But I was blind and didn't see it till ... till I was alone in the mine with death."
"I ... am sorry."
"That is not enough. I'm going to have the truth. You saved my life. What for? It is yours ... if you will take it."
She looked straight at him. "I can't marry you."
"Why can't you? Can you say that you don't love me?"
In the full-charged silence that followed a stifling emotion raced through her blood. The excitement in her set a pulse beating in her throat. Womanlike, she evaded the issue.
"The cable has stopped. What has happened?"