The only thing that kept
me coming on to meet my fate here, and nowhere else, was the hope that
you loved the spot itself so well that you--that your heart would be a
bit softer here than--somewhere else. O Roberta--I'm not half good
enough for you, but--I love you--love you--"
His voice broke on the words. It surely was a very far from confident
suitor who pleaded his case in such phrases as these. He did not so much
as take her hand, only waited there, a little behind her, his head bent
so that he might see as much as he could of the face turned away from
him.
She did not answer; something seemed to hold her from speech. One of her
arms was twined about the rough, untrimmed pillar of the porch; her
clasp tightened until she held it as if it were a bulwark against the
human approach ready to take her from it at a word from her lips.
"I told you in my letter all I knew I couldn't say now. You know what
you mean to me. I'm going to make all I can out of what there is in me
whether you help me or not. But--if I could do it for you--"
Still she could not speak. She clung to the pillar, her breath
quickening.
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