into unaccountable confusion, and that her wits were scattering
hopelessly at the very moment when she needed them most.

"Then why do you say I overestimate it?" he asked, relentlessly.

"Because you do," she exclaimed, at bay.

"Are you a competent judge?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, grasping for time.

"I mean, have you the right to question my power, as you call it?
Have I attempted to exert it over you?"

"You are talking nonsense, Phil," she said, spiritedly.

"I said I'd feel sorry for the girl if she didn't happen to love me,
you know. Well, I couldn't force her to love me if she didn't love
me, could I?"

"Certainly not. That is what I meant," she cried, immensely
relieved.

"But my point is that she might love me without knowing it and would
simply have ta be brought to the realization."

"Oh," she said, "that is different."

"You take back what you said, then?" he asked, maliciously.