"Yes; certainly it would. That is what I intend. And now will you
learn from me again?"

"That is,--you mean to ask, will I marry you?"

"Will you love me? Can you learn to love me? Oh, Isa, I have
thought of this so long! But you have seemed so cold that I have
not dared to speak. Isa, can you love me?" And he sat himself
close beside her. Now that the ice was broken, he was quite
prepared to become an ardent lover,--if she would allow of such
ardour. But as he sat down she rose.

"I cannot answer such a question on the sudden," she said. "Give me
till to-morrow, Herbert, and then I will make you a reply;"
whereupon she left him, and he stood alone in the room, having done
the deed on which he had been meditating for the last two years.
About half an hour afterwards he met her on the stairs as he was
going to his chamber. "May I speak to your father about this," he
said, hardly stopping her as he asked the question. "Oh yes;
surely," she answered; and then again they parted. To him this
last-accorded permission sounded as though it carried with it more
weight than it in truth possessed. In his own country a reference
to the lady's father is taken as indicating a full consent on the
lady's part, should the stern paterfamilias raise no objection. But
Isa had no such meaning. She had told him that she could not give
her answer till the morrow. If, however, he chose to consult her
father on the subject, she had no objection. It would probably be
necessary that she should discuss the whole matter in family
conclave, before she could bring herself to give any reply.