you ten minutes. I may say," he added thoughtfully, "that my hopes began to die the moment I saw you. You are spared the difficult task of telling me. So there is an end of it,"—leaning on the table which stood between us, and dropping his glass with a clatter, while he fixed a pair of piercing eyes on me. "You cannot love me: I must learn to get on without you; and that was the reason I joined your party. Instead of running away from you, as most men would have done, I am determined to live it down while I am with you; to see you hour by hour, and say mentally, 'She is not for me'—and some time" (there was a slight tremor in the voice, but only for a second) "some time to feel contented that it should be so. I like to be peculiar. I am rather proud, do you know, of following a course of action which most people would have shunned."
This he said in his pleasant, ordinary voice; then went on more earnestly:—
"I should not have acted on my determination, if I had had the faintest suspicion that my presence would be painful to you. I have vainly sought an opportunity of explaining this to you; for your suffering has been so apparent that I have regretted my decision more than once. It seems to me now," he added, never taking his eyes off my face, "that there must be some further cause for your sadness; else you are morbidly exaggerating the pain you would give me, or the difficulty of the task I have spared you. If my suspicions are correct, if you are in any trouble, you should know that there is no one in the world who will help you more willingly than
