"I seem to have gone too far already.

Please believe I meant well, that's all!" "Oh, I know that!" she said.
And then, moved by a curious impulse, she did an extraordinary thing.

She leaned forward and laid her clasped hands on his knee.
"I'm going to be--awfully frank with you," she said rather tremulously.

You--won't mind ?'' He sat motionless for a second.

Then very quietly he dropped his pipe back into his pocket and grasped her slender wrists.