Page:Elizabeth's Pretenders.djvu/80

Rh "But I have a strange secret fear that you are deceiving yourself about me. I am of a jealous, passionate nature. If I gave you my whole heart, and you deserted me, I should not take it as, I believe, some wives do. I should be desperate. I should be capable of committing a crime. I know I could never sit down with folded hands, and submit. Think well before you take me, and be very sure."

"I am very sure," he murmured, and sealed his asseveration with another kiss. Perhaps it was well for him that the light was so dim: she might have detected that look in his eyes which so rarely revealed the soul within him, and which might have ratified her dread.

She had no doubt, at that moment, but that she really loved him. Many another woman, as clever as Elizabeth, has been thus self-deceived. The man's physical attraction was great; and leaning there against him, with his strong arm round her, she believed in him as she had never believed in him before.

It was some minutes before she spoke. Then, in a very low voice, she said—

"It has been so difficult to think this possible. What can you, who have known so many, see in me? But I know you are the soul of honour and manliness, whatever faults you may have. Brave men are always true. You would not say all you have said to me if you were not sure—would you?"

"Certainly not, dear. Why should I? You are the first woman to whom I have ever proposed—the first for whom I have felt ready to sacrifice my independence. Of course I have been a loose fish, and have got debts,