"
"Mr. Mildmay!"--she began.
"Oh! you need not look like that," he interrupted. "It's perfectly
true. I think you knew it upon the steamer. I suppose that last day I
made myself a nuisance to you, with my advice and fears, and all that
sort of thing. Well, you see, now I ask no questions. I am content to
take you as you are. You want some one to look after you, Virginia. Will
you marry me?"
She set down her glass, which was half raised to her lips, and looked at
him with wide open eyes and trembling lips.
CHAPTER VII
AN APPOINTMENT
Virginia seemed to find speech impossible, and it seemed to him that he
could see the tears gathering in her eyes.
"Forgive me," he said, leaning over the table towards her. "I ought to
have asked you differently, I know, but I am so afraid that you will
slip away, as you did before, and that I shall lose sight of you again.
You want some one to take care of you, dear, and I am going to do it."
She looked at him with swimming eyes, and he laid his hand softly for a
moment upon hers.
"Mr. Mildmay," she said, "you must not say such things to me. It is
quite impossible, entirely and absolutely impossible.
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