But he was in earnest, and he was, above all, a gentleman.

He stood his ground a yard away from her.
"Then when," he asked--"when will you answer me ?" She stood with her back turned towards him, looking out over the smooth waters of the Solent, where one or two yachts and a heavy black schooner were creeping up on the tide before the morning breeze.

She drummed reflectively with her fingers on the low stone wall.

Beneath them a few gulls whirled and screamed over a shoal of little fish.

One of the birds had a singular cry, as if it were laughing to itself.
"You said just now," Millicent answered at length, "that you were not sure yourself--not at first--and therefore you cannot expect me to know all at once." "You would know at once," he argued gravely, "if it was going to be no.
If you do not say no now, I can only think that it may be yes some day.