To conceal his emotion, he pulled out the watch he lived by. "Why, it's church time!" he said…. I attended church regularly at Elkington….
On a Sunday night in June, following a day during which victory seemed more distant than ever, with startling unexpectedness Maude capitulated. She sat beside me on the bench, obscured, yet the warm night quivered with her presence. I felt her tremble…. I remember the first exquisite touch of her soft cheek. How strange it was that in conquest the tumult of my being should be stilled, that my passion should be transmuted into awe that thrilled yet disquieted! What had I done? It was as though I had suddenly entered an unimagined sanctuary filled with holy flame….
Presently, when we began to talk, I found myself seeking more familiar levels. I asked her why she had so long resisted me, accusing her of having loved me all the time.
"Yes, I think I did, Hugh. Only—I didn't know it."
"You must have felt something, that afternoon when I first proposed to you!"
"You didn't really want me, Hugh. Not then."
Surprised, and a little uncomfortable at this evidence of intuition, I started to protest. It seemed to me then as though I had always wanted her.
"No, no," she exclaimed, "you didn't. You were carried away by your feelings—you hadn't made up your mind. Indeed, I can't see why you want me now."
"You believe I do," I said, and drew her toward me.
"Yes, I—I believe it, now. But I can't see why. There must be so many attractive girls in the city, who know so much more than I do."