She winced. "I am speaking English. Well--was it your loyalty to Theo
that--that changed you?"
"I have been loyal, have I not? _Juste ciel!_" Rising, he walked about
the great room, his hands clasped behind him. "My conduct was
magnificent, was it not? Don't quibble with words, Brigit. In plain
language, I was a scoundrel, a beast, and now I am trying to behave--not
like a gentleman, but like a decent man. And why you won't let me, I
don't know."
He was suffering, she saw with a sigh of relief.
"Then you still love me?" she asked coolly.
"Yes. Does a man change in a week? You are a child. Now tell me what you
have come for--if you have any object other than your usual one of
seeing how much I can endure, and then--go. I am strong, and you cannot
make me change my mind, and I--I despise you for trying to make of
me--the--_thing_ I was at one time. But I am not made of stone, and you
hurt me--almost too much."
His voice was very even and low-pitched, but she shrank back in her
corner and hastened to answer.
"You wrong me. I have not come to tempt you. I have come--to tell you
that nothing in the world nor out of it can induce me to marry Theo."
"You will not----"
"No, I will not marry him.
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