.

Vance, I did not come into the Klondike to get married.

I liked you at the beginning, and I have liked you more and more,--never so much as to-day,--but--" "But you had never looked upon me in the light of a possible husband--that is what you are trying to say." As he spoke, he looked at her side-wise, and sharply; and when her eyes met his with the same old frankness, the thought of losing her maddened him.
"But I have," she answered at once.

"I have looked upon you in that light, but somehow it was not convincing.

Why, I do not know.