Unless I was mistaken, he slightly started. Anyhow, his elbow came off the mantelboard and his arm fell to his side. There was silence. Presently he returned his elbow to its former place upon the mantelboard. "I see." It was an ejaculation, rather than anything else. To the best of my judgment his face was expressionless as a mask. But I could not see his eyes--he kept them flamewards. Next time he spoke he confined himself to the utterance of a monosyllable. "Well?" "So far as I am concerned, that is all." He stood up straight. He faced me, turning his back to the fire. "May I ask why you wish to marry me?" "I? It is you who wish to marry me, surely." He regarded me with unwavering eyes. "Let us be frank with one another. Why do you wish to marry me?" "I am not conscious of having expressed any wish of the kind. I merely suggest that if I were your wife, in time, your neck would be saved. Otherwise----" I allowed the sentence to remain unfinished. "I am not a prize in the matrimonial market." "I have not inferred that you were. However, that is a question of the point of view." "And your point of view is?" "You have certain things I want." "As for instance?" "You have position--I have money." "What sort of position do you imagine me to have?" "You have the _entrée_ to the best society in England." "It does not follow that I can give that _entrée_ to my wife." "If you have a particular kind of wife, it does." "And you would be that particular kind of wife?" "I should. I have sufficient brains, sufficient looks, and sufficient money." "What is your idea of sufficient money?" "I can spend, say, between forty and fifty thousand pounds a year, and still economise." For the first time, he evinced genuine surprise. I thought I had him; but I had not. "Between forty and fifty thousand pounds a year? No. Then why do you live in such a place as this?" "If you have any doubts as to the existence of the money, I shall be happy to give you ample proof, not only that my income is considerably over the larger of the two sums which I have mentioned, but also that it is certain to increase." "Then you are a rich woman, even as riches go. You might have your choice of the best _partis_ in England. You would have no difficulty in marrying a man who really has what I only have in your imagination--family and influence. For instance, there is Archie Beaupré. He has some of the bluest blood in England in his veins. He has just the things you want. Why not marry him?" "If I did, you would hang." He smiled. It seemed to me that this time his smile was a little strained. "Again I am compelled to ask, why do you wish to marry me?--me, in particular?" "I will hint at a possible reason--one which may commend itself to you. You said, just now, that when first you saw me something told you that we were sympathetic. That something told you aright--we are."