I
will forget all the nonsense I have talked about inequality of position,
and will be your wife.'"
"In justice to yourself I cannot say it."
He felt the little hands tremble in his grasp, and he released them with
a kiss.
"You will be compelled to say it some day, darling. You might as well
try now. If I cannot win you for my wife, I will have no wife, Madaline.
Ah, now you are sorry you have vexed me!
"'And so it was--half sly, half shy;
You would and would not, little one,
Although I pleaded tenderly
And you and I were all alone.'
Why are you so hard, Madaline? I am sure you like me a little; you dare
not raise your eyes to mine and say, 'I do not love you, Norman.'"
"No," she confessed, "I dare not. But there is love and love; the lowest
love is all self, the highest is all sacrifice. I like the highest."
And then her eyes fell on the peaches, and she gave a little cry of
alarm.
"What will the duchess say?" she cried. "Oh, Lord Arleigh, let me go."
"Give me one kind word, then."
"What am I to say? Oh, do let me go!"
"Say, 'I like you, Norman.'"
"I like you, Norman," she said; and, taking up the peaches, she hastened
away.
Pages:
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228