Valerie had caught him by the arm.

At once his fury fell from him.

He turned to her.
"What is it, child ?" "Do not compel her, if she will not wed him," said she.

"I know--and--she did not--how terrible a thing it is." "Nay, patience, child," he soothed her, smiling now, his smile as the sunshine that succeeds a thunderstorm.
"It is none so bad with her.

She is but coy.