t."

"But it doesn't always stay--love," she said. "Supposing if afterwards
those thoughts came back to worry you. What would it mean to me if I saw
them in your eyes?"

"There isn't any reason why they should. Listen, dear"--he let go her
hands and sat up very straight. "Let's go over it carefully and
sensibly, and lay this bugbear of pain once and for all. Before you knew
me or I knew you, you loved somebody else. Perhaps you only thought you
loved him; anyway, I hope so; I am jealous enough of him as it is. Dear,
I don't ask you to explain why you gave yourself to this man, whether it
was impulse, or ignorance, or curiosity. So many things go to make up
our lives; it is only to ourselves that we are really accountable. After
to-day we won't dig over the past again. At the time it did not prevent
me falling in love with you; for two years I thought about you
sometimes, dreamed of you often. I made love to a good many other women
in between; don't think that I show up radiantly white in comparison to
you; but I loved just you all the time. I saw you in London once, the
day after I landed, and I made up my mind then to find out where you
lived, and to try and persuade you to marry me."

He waited a minute or two; his eyes had gone out to the garden; he could
see the tall daisies of which Joan had carried an armful waving against
the dark wall behind them. Then he looked back at her very frankly.

"It is no use trying to pretend," he said, "that I was not shocked when
I first saw you dancing. You see, we men have got into a habit of
dividing women into two classes, and you had suddenly, so it seemed to
me, got into the wrong one. Dear little girl, I don't want to hurt
you"--he put his hand on her knee and drew a little closer, so that she
could feel him leaning against her. "I am just telling you all the
stupid thoughts that were in me, so that you can at last understand that
I love you. It only took me half a night to realize the mistake I had
made, and then I set about--you may have noticed it--to make you love
me. When I came up to London I had made up my mind that you did love me;
I was walking as it were on air. It was a very nasty shock that
afternoon in your room, Joan; I went away from it feeling as if the end
of the world had come."

"Oh, I know, I know," she said quickly. "And I had meant it to hurt you.
I wanted to shake you out of what I thought was only a dream. I had not
the courage to tell you, and ye