"You've skipped all the usual
preliminaries--which isn't always wise. Don't you teach your boys to
look before they leap?"
"When there's time," he said. "But you know, dear, you gave the word
for--the final plunge."
She nodded slowly once or twice. "Yes. But I didn't expect
quite--quite--Well, never mind what I expected! The fact remains, we
haven't known each other long enough. No, I know we can't go back now
and begin again. But, Dick, I want you--and it's for your sake as much
as for my own--I want you, please, to be very patient. Will you? May I
count on that?"
He put out his hand to her and gently touched her shoulder. "Don't talk
to me like a slave appealing to a sultan!" he said.
She made a little movement towards him, but she did not turn. "I don't
want to hurt you," she said. "But I'm going to ask of you something that
you won't like--at all."
"Well, what is it?" he said.
"I want you--" she paused, then turned and resolutely faced him--"I want
you to be--just friends with me again," she said.
His eyes looked straight into hers. "In public you mean?" he said.
"In private too," she answered.
"For how long?" Swiftly he asked the question, his eyes still holding
hers with a certain mastery of possession.
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