第76章

Wewerestillforalongtime。“Marryme！”Iwhispered。

Shelookedup，twinedbackawhispofhair，andanswereddispassionately——

“IwishIcould。Anyhow，wehavehadthistime。Ithasbeenafinetime——hasitbeen——foryoualso？Ihaven’tnudgedyouallI

hadtogive。It’sapoorgift——exceptforwhatitmeansandmighthavebeen。Butweareneartheendofitnow。”

“Why？”Iasked。“Marryme！Whyshouldwetwo——“

“Youthink。”shesaid，“Icouldtakecourageandcometoyouandbeyoureverydaywife——whileyouworkandarepoor？”

“Whynot？”saidI。

Shelookedatmegravely，withextendedfinger。“Doyoureallythinkthat——ofme？Haven’tyouseenme——all？”

Ihesitated。

“NeveroncehaveIreallymeantmarryingyou。”sheinsisted。

“Neveronce。Ifellinlovewithyoufromthefirst。Butwhenyouseemedasuccessfulman，ItoldmyselfIwouldn’t。Iwaslove-sickforyou，andyouweresostupid，Icamenearitthen。

ButIknewIwasn’tgoodenough。WhatcouldIhavebeentoyou？

Awomanwithbadhabitsandbadassociations，awomansmirched。

AndwhatcouldIdoforyouorbetoyou？IfIwasn’tgoodenoughtobearichman’swife，I’mcertainlynotgoodenoughtobeapoorone’s。Forgivemefortalkingsensetoyounow，butI

wantedtotellyouthissomehow。”

Shestoppedatmygesture。Isatup，andthecanoerockedwithmymovement。

“Idon’tcare。”Isaid。“Iwanttomarryyouandmakeyoumywife！”

“No。”shesaid，“don’tspoilthings。Thatisimpossible！”

“Impossible！”

“Think！Ican’tdomyownhair！Doyoumeanyouwillgetmeamaid？”

“GoodGod！”Icried，disconcertedbeyondmeasure，“won’tyoulearntodoyourownhairforme？Doyoumeantosayyoucanloveaman——“

Sheflungoutherhandsatme。“Don’tspoilit。”shecried。“I

havegivenyouallIhave，IhavegivenyouallIcan。IfI

coulddoit，ifIwasgoodenoughtodoit，Iwould。ButIamawomanspoiltandruined，dear，andyouarearuinedman。Whenwearemakinglovewe’relovers——butthinkofthegulfbetweenusinhabitsandwaysofthought，inwillandtraining，whenwearenotmakinglove。Thinkofit——anddon’tthinkofit！Don’tthinkofityet。Wehavesnatchedsomehours。Westillmayhavesomehours！”

Shesuddenlykneltforwardtowardme，withaglowingdarknessinhereyes。“Whocaresifitupsets？”shecried。“IfyousayanotherwordIwillkissyou。Andgotothebottomclutchingyou。

I’mnotafraidofthat。I’mnotabitafraidofthat。I’lldiewithyou。Chooseadeath，andI’lldiewithyou——readily。Dolistentome！Iloveyou。Ishallalwaysloveyou。It’sbecauseIloveyouthatIwon’tgodo