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"I like that part of you. There's something rather quaint about it." His quick smile flashed upon her. "Oh, thanks awfully! I'm glad I'm quaint. But I didn't know it was a quality that appealed to you. I've been laying even odds with myself that I'd make you have me in spite of it." She coloured a little. "It doesn't really count one way or the other with me, Dick, any more than it would count with you if I hawked stale fish in the street for cat's meat. You see I haven't forgotten that pretty compliment of yours. But--" "But?" he said, frowning whimsically. "We'll have the end of that sentence, please. It's the very thing I want to get at. What is the 'but'?" She hesitated. "Go on!" he commanded. "Don't be a tyrant, Dick!" she said. "My beautiful princess!" He touched her shoulder with his lips. "Then don't you--please--be a goose! Tell me--quick!" "And if I can't tell you, Dick? If--if it's just an instinct that says, Wait? We've been too headlong as it is. I can't--I daren't--go on at this pace." She was almost tearful. "I must have a little breathing-space indeed. I came here for peace and quietness, as you know." He broke into a sudden laugh. "So you did, dear. You were playing hide-and-seek with yourself, weren't you? I'll bet you never expected to find the other half of yourself in this remote corner, did you? Well, never mind! Don't cry sweetheart--anyhow till you've got a decent excuse. I don't want to rush you into anything against your will. Taken properly, I'm the meekest fellow in creation. But we must have things on a sensible footing. You see that, don't you?" "If we could be just friends," she said. "Well, I'm quite willing to be friends." He laughed into her eyes. "Why so distressful? Don't you like the prospect?" She drew his hand down into her lap and held it between her own, looking gravely down at it. "Dick!" she said. His smile passed. "Well, dear? What is it? You're not going to be afraid of me?" She did not answer him. "I want you to leave me free a little longer," she said. "But you are not free now," he said. She threw him a brief, half-startled glance. "I don't mean that," she said rather haltingly. "I mean I want you--not to ask any promise of me--not to insist upon any bond between us--not to--not to--expect a formal engagement--until,--well, until--" "Until you are ready to marry me," he suggested quietly. A quick tremor went through her. "That wo
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