A Woodland Queen — Volume 2 by André Theuriet
page 66 of 71 (92%)
page 66 of 71 (92%)
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"Mademoiselle Reine, do you not intend to marry?"
Reine started, and gazed at him with a frightened air. "I!" exclaimed she, "Oh, I have time enough and I am not in a hurry." Then, dropping her eyes: "Why do you ask that?" "Because I know of some one who loves you and who would be glad to marry you." She became very pale, took up one of the empty pods, twisted it nervously around her finger without speaking. "Some one belonging to our neighborhood?" she faltered, after a few moments' silence. "Yes; some one whom you know, and who is not a recent arrival here. Some one who possesses, I believe, sterling qualities sufficient to make a good husband, and means enough to do credit to the woman who will wed him. Doubtless you have already guessed to whom I refer?" She sat motionless, her lips tightly closed, her features rigid, but the nervous twitching of her fingers as she bent the green stem back and forth, betrayed her inward agitation. "No; I can not tell," she replied at last, in an almost inaudible voice. "Truly?" he exclaimed, with an expression of astonishment, in which was a certain amount of secret satisfaction; "you can not tell whom I mean? You have never thought of the person of whom I am speaking in that |
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