"No; my Lord, I do not," she had said when he asked her to her face whether she liked him well enough to be his wife.

"No; my Lord, I do not." It was not the refusal conveyed in these words which annoyed him.

He did believe that if he were to press his suit with the usual forms she would accept him.

But it was that there should be such a total absence of trepidation in her words and manner.

Before her he blushed and hesitated and felt that he did not know how to express himself.