He sauntered up to the fireplace and stood on the hearth-rug, his hands in his pockets. Norma, looking at him from her easy-chair, wondered at a certain ignobility that she detected for the first time beneath his bluff, prosperous air. In spite of birth and breeding he looked common. “Well?” he said. “We had better have it out at once. What is it to be? I must have an answer sooner or later.” “Can't it be later?” “If you insist upon it. I'm not going to hold a pistol to your head, my dear girl. Only you must admit that I've treated you with every consideration. I have n't worried you. You took it into your head to put off our marriage. I felt you had your reasons and I raised no objection. But we can't go on like this forever, you know.” “Why not?” asked Norma. “Human nature. I am in love with you, and want to marry you.” “But supposing I am not in love with you, Morland. I've never pretended to be, have I?” “We need n't go over old ground. I accepted all that at the beginning. The present state of affairs is that we are engaged; when are we going to be married?” “Oh, I don't know,” said Norma, desperately. “I have n't thought of it seriously. I know I have behaved like a beast to you--you must forgive me. At times it has seemed as though I was not the right sort to marry and bring children into the world. I should loathe it!” “Oh, I don't think so,” said Morland, in a tone he meant to be soothing. “Besides--” “I know what you are going to say--or at any rate what you would like to say. It's scarcely decent to talk of such things. But I have n't been brought up in a nunnery. I wish to God I had been. At all events, I am frank. I would loathe it--all that side of it. Could n't we suppress that side? Oh, yes, I am going to speak of it--it has been on my mind for months,” she burst out, as Morland made a quick step towards her. He did not allow her to continue. With his hand on the arm of her chair, he bent down over her. “You are talking wild nonsense,” he said; and she flushed red and did not meet his eyes. “When a man marries, he marries in the proper sense of the term, unless he is an outrageous imbecile. There is to be no question of that sort of thing. I thought you knew your world better. I want you--you yourself. Don't you understand that?” Norma put out her hand to push him away. He seized it in his. She snatched it from him. “Let me get up,” she said, waving him off. She brushed past him, as she rose. “We can't go on talking. What I've said has made it impossible. Let us change the subject. How long are you going to stay in town?” “I'm not going to change the subject,” said Morland, rather brutally. “I'm far too much interested in it. Hang it all, Norma, you do owe me something.” “What do I owe you? What?” she asked with a sudden flash in her eyes.