Part 65 (1/2)
”But you said some of them might have been written to me. What do you mean?”
”They're the finest love verses in the English language. They might have been written to you. They're quite the best thing in the Bible.”
She was perplexed, and showed it in her face; then, she looked appealingly to him for enlightenment. He disregarded the entreaty in her eyes. He looked at her from head to foot before saying:
”Little Mavis, little Mavis, why are you so alluring?”
”Don't talk nonsense. I'm not a bit,” she replied, as something seemed to tighten at her heart.
”You are, you are. You've soul and body, an irresistible combination,”
he declared ardently.
His words troubled her; she looked about her, large-eyed, afraid; she did not once glance in his direction.
Then she felt his grasp upon her wrist and the pressure of his lips upon her wounded hand.
”Forgive me: forgive me!” he cried. ”But I know you never will.”
”Don't, don't,” she murmured.
”Are you very angry?”
”I--I--” she hesitated.
”Let me know the worst.”
”I don't know,” she faltered ruefully.
His face brightened.
”I'm going to ask you something,” he said earnestly.
Mavis was filled with a great apprehension.
”If I weren't a bad egg, and could offer you a home worthy of you, I wonder if you'd care to marry me?”
An exclamation of astonishment escaped her.
”I mean it,” he continued, ”and why not? You're true-hearted and straight and wonderful to look at. Little Mavis is a pearl above price, and she doesn't know it.”
”Ss.h.!.+ ss.h.!.+” she murmured.
”You're a rare find,” he said, to add after a moment or two, ”and I know what I'm talking about.”
She did not speak, but her bosom was violently disturbed, whilst a delicious feeling crept about her heart. She repressed an inclination to shed tears.
”Now I s'pose your upset, eh?” he remarked.
”Why should I be?” she asked with flas.h.i.+ng eyes.