There was an intense silence, broken only by his laboured breathing.
The intensity of his emotions was evidently too much for him.
'And so,' I concluded, raising my eyes to his for a moment, 'I am going
to be your wife.'
There! It was out at last. Having spoken I lowered my eyes again and
did not look at him until I heard him say in a strained kind of voice,
'But--but--this is too much honour. Believe me, Miss Warrington, I am
not worthy----'
'I think you are,' I replied softly, 'and isn't that enough?'
'It isn't enough--I assure you it isn't,' he replied. I noted that his
eyes had a rather staring look and slight beads of perspiration had
broken out on his forehead--he must be a man of strong emotions. 'It
would be a most unfair thing for a man like me, with all my
shortcomings, to inflict myself on any woman.'
'Don't be too modest about yourself,' I put in encouragingly, and
somewhat timidly laying my hand on his, I added, 'I like you as you
are.'
'Nothing would induce me to let you sacrifice yourself,' he exclaimed
hotly, 'it would be monstrous, intolerable!' He sprang to his feet as
he spoke. 'I must go at once,' he went on, 'we can never meet again,
never, never!'
I rose also, going rather pale. In that moment a dreadful thought came
to me that perhaps I had made a mistake. Yet there could have been no
misconstruing what he had said to Elizabeth regarding his passion for
me.
Pages:
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146