'
'I suppose I do,' she answered.
'I hope you do not doubt my true affection for you.'
She paused a moment before she replied. 'I have no reason to doubt
it,' she said.
'No indeed. I love you with all my heart. I do truly. Your uncle
and aunt think it would be a good thing for both of us that we
should be married. What answer will you make me, Marie?' Again she
paused. She had allowed him to take her hand, and as he thus asked
his question he was standing opposite to her, still holding it.
'You have thought about it, Marie, since I was here last?'
'Yes; I have thought about it.'
'Well, dearest?'
'I suppose it had better be so,' said she, standing up and
withdrawing her hand.
She had accepted him; and now it was no longer possible for him to
go back to Basle except as a betrothed man. She had accepted him;
but there came upon him a wretched feeling that none of the triumph
of successful love had come to him. He was almost disappointed,--or
if not disappointed, was at any rate embarrassed.
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