“Oh, Rion!” she pleaded. “Do you care for me? Answer. Don’t beat about the bush.” “I care for you immensely. I’ve always cared for you, but lately it’s been something quite different, something much deeper. You’ve been so kind to me.” “Never mind about my kindness, do you love me?” “I--but--no--not--” she stammered a series of disconnected words, and came to a stop. He took a step nearer to her and said in an authoritative voice, “Answer me. Will you be my wife?” “I can’t,” she said, in the lowest tone he could hear. “You can’t? Then it’s no again?” “It’s not exactly no. Or if it is, it’s not the same kind of no it was before.” “What do you mean by that? There’s only one kind of no in a matter like this.” “Well, this is a different kind. It must be a different kind. It mustn’t be a no that makes us strangers as it did before.” He gave a suppressed exclamation, angry and violent, and turned to the table for his hat. “A man’s not a fool or a child,” he said, “to be spoken to like that.” She followed his movements, saw him stretch his hand for the hat, and cried, “Oh, don’t go--don’t go this way--don’t be angry with me--let me explain.” He turned and looked at her with a face grown cold and hard. “What is there to explain? I want you to be my wife. You don’t want to. That’s the whole matter.” “Oh, no it isn’t. It’s not like it was the other time. I didn’t care then, but I do now, more than you think, much more. Everything’s different. I can’t bear to have you go. I can’t bear to lose you.” “Is that the reason you’ve looked so pleased whenever I came? Was that the reason you told me just now that you wanted me to come so much you didn’t think I would? I’ve been a fool, no doubt, but it seems to me that a smarter man than I might have thought you meant it.” She flushed deeply, up to her hair. “I did mean it,” she said in a low voice. Hope sprang to his face and he came close to her: “Then if you meant it, say you love me, say you’ll marry me. That’s the only thing I want you to say to me.” She shrank away again and without waiting for her answer, he turned--the light gone from his face--and reached for his hat. “Don’t go; don’t go,” she begged. “There are things I want to say to you,”--but this time he did not let false hopes beguile him. “Good-by,” he said gruffly, and walked to the door. As he passed her she slipped round the sofa and came after him: “It mustn’t be good-by. Say good night. I won’t let you say good-by.” “It’s good-by this time, young woman,” he said grimly. “Good-by for keeps.” She laid her hand on his arm and that stopped him. With an air of enforced patience he stood, his face turned from her, waiting. For a moment she did not speak, and he said: