“Is that _you_?” she whispered in return, with an accent on the last word that thrilled her listener. The accent told plainly as speech that the word represented the one man on earth to her.
“Yes,” answered Yates, springing over the fence and approaching her.
“Oh!” cried Margaret, starting back, then checking herself, with a catch in her voice. “You--you startled me--Mr. Yates.”
“Not Mr. Yates any more, Margaret, but Dick. Margaret, I wanted to see you alone. You know why I have come.” He tried to grasp both her hands, but she put them resolutely behind her, seemingly wishing to retreat, yet standing her ground.
“Margaret, you must have seen long ago how it is with me. I love you, Margaret, loyally and truly. It seems as if I had loved you all my life. I certainly have since the first day I saw you.”
“Oh, Mr. Yates, you must not talk to me like this.”
“My darling, how else _can_ I talk to you? It cannot be a surprise to you, Margaret. You must have known it long ago.”
“I did not, indeed I did not--if you really mean it.”
“Mean it? I never meant anything as I mean this. It is everything to me, and nothing else is anything. I have knocked about the world a good deal, I admit, but I never was in love before--never knew what love was until I met you. I tell you that----”
“Please, please, Mr. Yates, do not say anything more. If it is really true, I cannot tell you how sorry I am. I hope nothing I have said or done has made you believe that--that--Oh, I do not know what to say! I never thought you could be in earnest about anything.”
“You surely cannot have so misjudged me, Margaret. Others have, but I did not expect it of you. You are far and away better than I am. No one knows that so well as I. I do not pretend to be worthy of you, but I will be a devoted husband to you. Any man who gets the love of a good woman,” continued Yates earnestly, plagiarizing Renmark, “gets more than he deserves; but surely such love as mine is not given merely to be scornfully trampled underfoot.”
“I do not treat your--you scornfully. I am only sorry if what you say is true.”
“Why do you say _if_ it is true? Don’t you know it is true?”
“Then I am very sorry--very, _very_ sorry, and I hope it is through no fault of mine. But you will soon forget me. When you return to New York----”