husband?'

'I can,' she said. Why should she hesitate, and play the coy girl, and
pretend to any doubts in her mind which did not exist there? She did
love him, and had so told herself with much earnestness. To him, while
his words had been doubtful while he had simply played at making love
to her, she had given no hint of the state of her affections. She had
so carried herself before him as to make him doubt whether success
could be possible for him. But now why should she hesitate now? It was
as she had hoped or as she bad hardly dared to hope. He did love her.
'I can,' she said; and then, before he could speak again, she repeated
her words with more emphasis. 'Indeed I can; with all my heart.'

As regarded herself, she was quite equal to the occasion; but had she
known more of the inner feelings of men and women in general, she would
have been slower to show her own. What is there that any man desires
any man or any woman that does not lose half its value when it is found
to be easy of access and easy of possession? Wine is valued by its
price, not its flavour. Open your doors freely to Jones and Smith, and
Jones and Smith will not care to enter them. Shut your doors obdurately
against the same gentlemen, and they will use all their little
diplomacy to effect an entrance. Captain Aylmer, when he heard the
hearty tone of the girl's answer, already began almost to doubt whether
it was wise on his part to devote the innermost bin of his cellar to
wine that was so cheap.

Not that he had any idea of receding. Principle, if not love, prevented
that. 'Then the question about the house is decided,' he said, giving
his hand to Clara as he spoke.