Why should I
deceive you by pretending to what is impossible? Nature is stronger
than even your wishes, Graydon, and cannot be ignored."
She spoke hesitatingly, feeling her way across most difficult and
dangerous ground, but her decision was unmistakable, and he said,
quietly, "I am answered. See, we have wandered far from the house. Had
we not better return?"
After a few moments of silence she asked, "Are you so rich in friends
that you have no place for me?"
"Why, certainly, Madge," he replied, in cordial, offhand tones, "we
are friends. There's nothing else for us to be. I don't pretend to
understand your scruples. Even if a woman refused to be my wife I
should be none the less friendly, unless she had trifled with me. To
my man's reason a natural tie does not count for so much as the years
we spent together. I remember what you were to me then, and what I
seemed to you. I tried to keep up the old feeling by correspondence.
The West is a world of wonders, and you have come from it the greatest
wonder of all."
"I hope I shall not prove to you a monstrosity, Graydon. I will try
not to be one if you will give me a chance."
"Oh, no, indeed; you promise to be one of the most charming young
ladies I ever met.
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