a little. "You won't believe it, but it's true--it's true."

"Why shouldn't I believe it?" she said swiftly. She had begun to tremble
in his hold.

He looked at her with an odd wistfulness. "Because I'm too big an
oaf--to make you understand," he said.

"And that is why you have set me free?" she questioned.

He bent his head, almost as if the sudden question embarrassed him.
"Yes, that," he said after a moment. "And because I care too much about
you to--marry you against your will."

"And you call that love?" she said.

He made a slight gesture of surprise. "It is love," he said simply.

His arms were still around her, but she had only to move to be free. She
did not move, save that she quivered like a vibrating wire, quivered and
hid her face.

"Rufus!" she said.

"Yes?" His head was bent above hers, but he could only see her black
hair, so completely was her face averted from him.

Her voice came, tensely whispering. "What if I were--willing to marry
you?"