ork with what best eloquence was at her command to cheat him out of
the direct answer which he required. "I think," she said, "you do not
understand the workings of a girl's heart in such a matter. She does
not dare to ask herself about her love, when she knows that loving
would avail her nothing. For what purpose should I inquire into
myself when the object of such inquiry has already been obtained? Why
should I trouble myself to know whether this thing would be a gain to
me or not, when I am well aware that I can never have the gain?"

"Marion, I think you love me." She looked at him and tried to
smile,--tried to utter some half-joking word; and then as she felt
that she could no longer repress her tears, she turned her face from
him, and made no attempt at a reply. "Marion," he said again, "I
think that you love me."

"If you loved me, my lord, you would not torture me." She had seated
herself now on the sofa, turning her face away from him over her
shoulder so that she might in some degree hide her tears. He sat
himself at her side, and for a moment or two got possession of her
hand.

"Marion," he said, pleading his case with all the strength of words
which was at his command, "you know, do you not, that no moment of
life can be of more importance to me than this?"

"Is it so, my lord?"

"None can be so important. I am striving to get her for my companion
in life, who to me is the sweetest of all human beings. To touch
you as I do now is a joy to me, even though you have made my heart
so sad." At the moment she struggled to get her hand away from
him, but the struggle was not at first successful. "You answer me
with arguments which are to me of no avail at all. They are, to my
thinking, simply a repetition of prejudices to which I have been all
my life opposed. You will not be angry because I say so?"

"Oh, no, my lord," she said; "not angry. I am not angry, but indeed
you must not hold me." With that she extricated her hand, which he
allowed to pass from his grasp as he continued his address to her.

"As to all that, I have my opinion and you have yours. Can it be
right that you should hold to your own and sacrifice me who have
thought so much of what it is I want myself,--if in truth you love
me? Let your opinion stand against mine, and neutralize it. Let mine
stand against yours, and in that we shall be equal. Then after that
let love be lord of all. If you love me, Marion, I think that I have
a right to