'
'You needn't. Why won't you be as honest to me? If you hate me,
say so;--but if you love me-!'
'I do not hate you, Lord Silverbridge.'
'And is that all?'
'You asked me the question.'
'But you do love me? By George, I thought you would be more honest
and straightforward.'
Then she dropped her badinage and answered him seriously. 'I
thought I had been more honest and straightforward. When I found
that you were in earnest at Killancodlem--'
'Why did you ever doubt me?'
'When I felt that you were in earnest, then I had to be in earnest
too. And I thought so much about it that I lay awake nearly all
that night. Shall I tell you what I thought?'
'Tell me something I would like to hear.'
'I will tell you the truth. "Is it possible," I said to myself,
"that such a man as that can want me to be his wife; he an
Englishman, of the highest rank and the greatest wealth, and one
that any girl in the world would love?"'
'Psha!' he exclaimed.
'That is what I said to myself.' Then she paused, and looking
into his face he saw that there was a glimmer of a tear in each
eye.
Pages:
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709