Rachel vouchsafed no reply.

“Whom one only—­but tremendously—­admires?”

Rachel felt bound to answer him, for at least there was no insult in his tone.  She raised her candid eyes, a sweet brown blush upon her face.

“Yes,” she said, “I think there is absolutely no excuse for a proposal of marriage, if it is not founded upon love and nothing else!”

“Or its pretence and nothing else,” amended Steel, with a bow and a smile of some severity.  “That is a hard saying,” he went on, resuming his chair, and wheeling it even nearer to Rachel’s than it had been before; “moreover,” he added, “since I have already insulted you, let me tell you that it is an exceedingly commonplace saying, into the bargain.  It depends, you must admit, upon the commonplace conception of marriage; and before we go any further I should like to give you my own conception, not of the institution, but of the particular marriage which I have in view.”

So he had it in view!  It was not an inspiration, but already quite a prospect!  Rachel made an acid little note of this; but there was no acidity in her permission to him to proceed; her turn was coming last.

“The marriage that I propose to you,” continued Steel, “is simply the most convenient form of friendship of which I can think.  I want to be your friend; indeed, that much I mean to be, if necessary, in spite of you.  I was interested in your case, so I came up to hear your trial.  I was more interested in your trial, but most interested of all in yourself.  There, indeed, the word is too weak; but I will not vex your spirit with a stronger.  My attraction you know; my determination you know; even the low wiles to which your pride reduced me, even my dodging and dogging, have been quite openly admitted to you on the first reasonable opportunity.  All this business of the shipwrecked daughter was of course a crude device enough; but I had very little time to think, and my first care was that you should not be recognized here or elsewhere in my society.  That was essential, if there was the slightest chance of your even listening to my proposition, as indeed you are doing now.  Last night I told you nothing, because that’s always easier than telling only a little; moreover, you were so distraught that you would possibly have gone right away without benefiting even to the slight extent of the comfortable night’s rest you so badly needed; but this morning I am prepared to put it to the touch.  And let me begin by saying, that if circumstances would permit me to continue the paternal imposture, that would be quite enough for me; unluckily, I am known in my own country as an old bachelor; so that I cannot suddenly produce a widowed daughter, without considerable unpleasantness for us both.  What I can do, however,” and Steel bent further forward, with eyes that held Rachel’s in their spell; “what I can do, and will, is to go back with a lady who shall be my wife in name, my daughter in effect.  We should, I trust, be the best of friends; but I will give you my word, and not only my word but my bond, that we never need be anything more.”