“
But I cannot tell you how glad I am to see you Stephen. I have been so lonely, and you were in my mind, as clear as a bell, just before I saw you. You are no great shakes at eating in the Indian way, I see… Oh my God, what have you done with your poor hands?”
“It is of no consequence,” said Stephen, darting them out of sight. “They were injured- caught in a machine. It is of no consequence; it will soon pass.
“It is of no consequence,” said Stephen, darting them out of sight. “They were injured- caught in a machine. It is of no consequence; it will soon pass.
“
Are you going to take me into keeping too, Stephen?” she asked with a smile.
“No,” he said, endeavoring to imitate her. He privately crossed his bosum, and then, speaking somewhat at random in his agitation, he went on, “I have never made a woman an offer of marriage- am ignorant of- the accepted forms. I am sorry for my ignorance. But I beg you will have the goodness, the very great goodness, to marry me.” As she did not reply, he added, “It would oblige me extremely, Diana.”
“Why, Stephen,” she said at last, still gazing at him in candid wonder. “Upon my word and honour, you astonish me. I can hardly speak. It was the kindest thing you could possibly have said to me. But your friendship, your affection, is leading you away; it is your dear good heart full of pity for a friend that-”
“No, no, no,” he cried passionately. “This is a deliberate, long-meditated statement, conceived a great while since, and matured over twelve thousand miles and more. I am painfully aware,” he said, clasping and unclasping his hands behind his back, “that my appearance does not serve me; that there are objections to my person, my birth, and my religion; and that my fortune is nothing in comparison with that of a wealthy man. But I am not the penniless nonentity I was when we first met; I can offer an honourable if not a brilliant marriage; and at the very lowest I can provide my wife- my widow, my relict- with a decent competence, an assured fortune.
“No,” he said, endeavoring to imitate her. He privately crossed his bosum, and then, speaking somewhat at random in his agitation, he went on, “I have never made a woman an offer of marriage- am ignorant of- the accepted forms. I am sorry for my ignorance. But I beg you will have the goodness, the very great goodness, to marry me.” As she did not reply, he added, “It would oblige me extremely, Diana.”
“Why, Stephen,” she said at last, still gazing at him in candid wonder. “Upon my word and honour, you astonish me. I can hardly speak. It was the kindest thing you could possibly have said to me. But your friendship, your affection, is leading you away; it is your dear good heart full of pity for a friend that-”
“No, no, no,” he cried passionately. “This is a deliberate, long-meditated statement, conceived a great while since, and matured over twelve thousand miles and more. I am painfully aware,” he said, clasping and unclasping his hands behind his back, “that my appearance does not serve me; that there are objections to my person, my birth, and my religion; and that my fortune is nothing in comparison with that of a wealthy man. But I am not the penniless nonentity I was when we first met; I can offer an honourable if not a brilliant marriage; and at the very lowest I can provide my wife- my widow, my relict- with a decent competence, an assured fortune.
