I wanted to hear you sing that song only." He rose.
"I am so very hot," she said.
"Come into the hall." They passed into the long corridor, and walked up and down, for a time in silence.
"You felt that music ?" he asked at last.
"As I never felt music before," she replied.
"Do you know why I asked you to sing it ?" "How should I know ?" "To see how far you could go with it." "How far did I go ?" "As far as I expected." "It was satisfactory ?" "Perfectly." "But why--experiment--on me ?" "That I might see if you were not, after all, as much a barbarian as I." "Am I ?" "No.

That was myself singing as well as you.

You did not enjoy it altogether, did you ?" "In a way, yes.

But--shall I be honest?
I felt, too, as if, somehow, it wasn't quite right; so much--what shall I call it ?" "So much of old Adam and the Garden?
Sit down here for a moment, will you ?" She trembled a little, and sat.
"I want to speak plainly and honestly to you," he said, looking earnestly at her.

"You know my history--about my wife who died in Labrador, and all the rest ?" "Yes, they have told me." "Well, I have nothing to hide, I think; nothing more that you ought to know: though I've been a scamp one way and another." "'That I ought to know' ?" she repeated.
"Yes: for when a man asks a woman to be his wife, he should be prepared to open the cupboard of skeletons." She was silent; her heart was beating so hard that it hurt her.
"I am going to ask you to be my wife, Delia." She was silent, and sat motionless, her hands clasped in her lap.
He went on "I don't know that you will be wise to accept me, but if you will take the risk--" "Oh, Gaston, Gaston!" she said, and her hands fluttered towards his.
An hour later, he said to her, as they parted for the night: "I hope, with all my heart, that you will never repent of it, Delia." "You can make me not repent of it.