"I thought you loved my mother in me--I was afraid it was not I you
loved, not Marcia Farrell, but Happy Morey."
"You thought _that_!--And I never knew." He spoke rapidly, with a
catch in his voice which sounded like a half laugh or a sob.
He straightened himself suddenly, then, as suddenly, he bent over me
again, took my face between his hands and looked into my eyes, as if by
looking he could engrave his words on my brain.
"I swear to you by my manhood, that I have loved and love you for
yourself, for what you are. I swear to you by my past life, a life
that has never known the love of a woman, that the past no longer
exists for me; that it no longer existed for me from the moment I saw
you coming down stairs that first night at Lamoral. I waited this time
to make sure that a woman loved me as I wanted to be loved, as I must
be loved--and I waited too long. You are not like your mother, except
in looks. You are you--the woman I want to make my wife, the woman I
look to, to make life with me. Marcia! Let the past bury its
dead--what do we care for it? We are living, you and
I--living--loving--"
He drew me up to him--and life in its fulness began for me....
"And now put on your hat, give me your coat, and come with me," he said
a half an hour afterwards.
"Where?"
"To the City Hall to get our marriage licence."
"To-day?"
"Yes, now, before luncheon. Tell Jane you will not return--"
"But my bag--shall I take that? And Delia, what will--"
"Delia must look out for herself; you can explain by letter. Tell Jane
to have your bag sent this afternoon to this address." He gave me a
card on which he scribbled, "Check room of the Grand Central Station".
"We can be married at the magistrate's office--"
I must have shown some disappointment at this decision, for he asked
quickly:
"What is it, Marcia? Tell me. Remember, I can bear nothing more."
I took a lighter tone with him. I saw that the nervous strain under
which he was suffering must be relieved.
"I am disappointed, yes, downright disappointed. Even if you don't
want to make certain promises, I confess I do. I want to say 'I
promise'; I want to hear myself saying 'I take you' and 'till death do
us part'. I want to say those very words; I would like the whole world
to hear. Why, think of it, I am going to be your wife! Do you grasp
that fact?" I said, smiling at him.