"Alas! and if it should be already fixed," she replied, without a smile.
"Perhaps it is unreasonable in me to expect it in you as a man, when you
had so little of it as a boy; but I used to think it was only shyness
then, and always hoped you would outgrow that and gradually become an
ideal lover. You have such a multitude of other perfections, however, that
it may be nature has denied you this so that I may be reminded that you
are human. If the choice had been left with me I think I should have
preferred to leave out some other quality in the make-up of your
character, good as they all are."

"What bitter pill is this," I asked, "that you are sugar-coating to such
an extent? Don't you see that I am aching to begin the improvement in my
manners, as soon as you point out the direction?"

"You must know what I mean from my first abrupt question," she answered.
"To make an extreme comparison, frozen mercury is warm beside you, Walter.
If you are really to be loyal knight of mine I must send you on a quest
for your heart."

"Ah, I supposed it was understood that I had given it to you."

"I have never seen it," she continued, "and you have never before said as
much as is contained in those last words. Here we are, talking of many
things we shall do after we are married, and yet you have nothing to say
of all that wonderful and beautiful world of romance that ought to come
before marriage. Is this voyage to come to an end and mean no more to us
than to these hundreds of passengers around us, who seem only intent to
get back to their work at the earliest possible moment? And is our wedding
day to approach and pass and be looked upon merely as part of the