Page:Confidence (London, Macmillan & Co., 1921).djvu/196

 looked to her more serious than he had ever looked. He sat down again; for some moments he hesitated to go on.

"You frighten me," she said, laughing; and in spite of her laugh this was obviously true.

"I assure you my state of mind is anything but formidable. I am afraid of you, on the contrary; I am humble and apologetic."

"I am sorry for that," said Angela. "I particularly dislike receiving apologies, even when I know what they are for. What yours are for, I can't imagine."

"You don't dislike me—you don't hate me?" Bernard suddenly broke out.

"You don't ask me that humbly. Excuse me, therefore, if I say I have other, and more practical, things to do."

"You despise me," said Bernard.

"That's not humble either, for you seem to insist upon it."

"It would be, after all, a way of thinking of me, and I have a reason for wishing you to do that."

"I remember very well that you used to have a reason for everything. It was not always a good one."

"This one is excellent," said Bernard gravely. "I have been in love with you for three years."

She got up slowly, turning away.

"Is that what you wished to say to me?"

She went towards the open window, and he followed her.

"I hope it doesn't offend you. I don't say it lightly—it's not a piece of gallantry. It's the very truth of my being. I didn't know it till lately—strange as that may seem. I loved you long before I knew it—before I ventured or presumed to know it. I was thinking of you when I seemed to myself to be thinking of other things. It is very strange— 188