"
"Don't hope too much," Isabel said.
"Oh, Miss Archer!" her companion murmured, smiling again, in his
seriousness, as if such a warning might perhaps be taken but as the
play of high spirits, the exuberance of elation.
"Should you be greatly surprised if I were to beg you not to hope at
all?" Isabel asked.
"Surprised? I don't know what you mean by surprise. It wouldn't be
that; it would be a feeling very much worse."
Isabel walked on again; she was silent for some minutes. "I'm very
sure that, highly as I already think of you, my opinion of you, if I
should know you well, would only rise. But I'm by no means sure that
you wouldn't be disappointed. And I say that not in the least out of
conventional modesty; it's perfectly sincere."
"I'm willing to risk it, Miss Archer," her companion replied.
"It's a great question, as you say. It's a very difficult question."
"I don't expect you of course to answer it outright. Think it over
as long as may be necessary. If I can gain by waiting I'll gladly wait
a long time. Only remember that in the end my dearest happiness
depends on your answer."
"I should be very sorry to keep you in suspense," said Isabel.
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