"I thought you were a good enough pal not to want to chortle over me--as I know Geoffrey will--should the thing turn out a frost!" "Well, I'm not, then," he returned roughly.
The churlish tones were so unlike Tim that Sara looked up at him in some amazement.

He was staring down at her with a strange, _awakened_ expression in his eyes; his face was very white and his mouth working.
With a sudden apprehension of what was impending, she sprang up, stretching out her hand as though to ward it off.
"No--no, Tim.

It isn't--don't say it's that----" He caught her hand and held it between both his.
"But it _is_ that," he said, speaking very fast, the serenity of his face all broken up by the surge of emotion that had gripped him.

"It is that.

I love you.