y without a
word? I do not mean that it shall be. Sit down here on this log and
listen to me." He caught her hand.

"Please, I must go."

"No; not yet. Sit down here. I shall not keep you long--a woman who
wants none of me. But I have much to say--explanations, ah, much to
say." She sat down.

"I will hear thee, but--"

"Oh, you will hear me? Yes, because you must? Go, if you will. It will
be my answer."

"I think the time and the place ill chosen,"--she spoke with simple
dignity,--"but I will hear thee."

"I have had no chance but this. You must pardon me." She looked down and
listened. "It is a simple matter. I have loved you long. No other love
has ever troubled my life. Save my mother, I have no one. What might
have been the loves for brothers and sisters are all yours, a love
beyond all other loves, the love of a lonely man. Whether or not you
permit me to be something more, I shall still owe you a debt the years
can never make me forget--the remembrance of what my life beside you in
your home has given me."

The intent face, the hands clasped in her lap, might have shown him how
deeply she was moved; for now at last that she had heard him she knew
surely that she loved him. The long discipline of Friends in controlling
at least the outward expression of emotion came to her aid as often
before. She felt how easy it would have been to give him the answer he
longed for; but there were others to think about, and from her childhood
she had been taught the lesson of consideration for her elders. She set
herself to reply to him with stern repression of feeling not very
readily governed.

"How can I answer thee? What would thy mother say?" He knew then what
her answer might have been. She, too, had her pride, and he liked her
the more for that.

"Thou art a French noble. I am a plain Quaker girl without means. There
would be reason in the opposition thy mother would make."

"A French noble!" he laughed. "A banished exile, landless and poor--a
pretty match I am. But, Pearl, the future is mine. I have succeeded
here, where my countrymen starve. I have won honor, respect, and trust.
I would add love."

"I know, I know; but--"

"It is vain to put me off with talk of others. I think you do care for
me. My mother will summon all her prejudices and in the end will yield.
It is very simple, Pearl. I ask only a word. If you say yes, whatever
may then come, we will meet with courage and respect. Do you love me,
Pe