"
"No business of mine!" he repeated. "Heavens! Isn't it the business of
any man to look after a child like you? Nineteen years old, indeed, and
most of them spent in a farmhouse! How do you know that these things
which you talk about doing are right or necessary? Don't you see you are
not old enough to be a judge of the serious things of life? You want
some one to take care of you, Virginia. Will you marry me?"
"Will I what?" she gasped.
"Wasn't I explicit enough?" he asked. "I said marry me."
She would have risen from her chair, but he calmly took her arm and drew
her down again.
"I will not stay here," she declared, "and hear you talk such rubbish."
"It is not rubbish," he answered, "but I will admit that I should not
have said anything about it yet, if it had not been for your vague
threats of what you were going to do. Virginia," he added, dropping his
voice almost to a whisper, "you know that I am fond of you. I have been
fond of you ever since I first saw you here."
"Six days ago," she murmured drearily.
"Six days or six weeks, it's all the same," he declared. "I wasn't going
to say anything just yet, but I can't bear the thought of leaving you at
Liverpool, in a strange country, and without any friends.
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