I held her away from me in astonishment. For the first time in our lives we had changed places⁠—the resolution was all on her side, the hesitation all on mine. I looked into the pale, quiet, resigned young face⁠—I saw the pure, innocent heart, in the loving eyes that looked back at me⁠—and the poor worldly cautions and objections that rose to my lips dwindled and died away in their own emptiness. I hung my head in silence. In her place the despicably small pride which makes so many women deceitful would have been my pride, and would have made me deceitful too.

“Don’t be angry with me, Marian,” she said, mistaking my silence.