She felt terribly shocked and alarmed, not so much at his words as at her own agitation.  She feared for a moment she could not rise from her seat, but she did so with an effort.  He rose and approached her, evidently held in check by her inflexible face; for the crisis had brought a momentary self-control with it, and she looked formidable with her knit brows and closed lips.

“Do not go,” he pleaded.  “Do not think I have been wanting in respect and consideration.  I could not help saying what I did.  I cannot live without you any more than I can without light and sunshine.  I ought to have waited and not startled you.  But I have only begun to live since I loved you, and I feel I must not waste time.”

She was deeply disturbed at these wild and whirling words, but still bore herself bravely.  She felt her heart touched by the vibration of his ardent speech, but her maiden instinct of self defence enabled her to stand on her guard.  Though beaten by the storm of his devotion, she said to herself that she could get away if she could keep from crying or sobbing, and one thought which came to her with the swiftness of lightning gave her strength to resist.  It was this:  “If I cry, he will take me in his arms, and we shall repeat the tableau mamma saw in the rose-house.”

Strong in that stimulating thought, she said:  “I am too sorry to hear you say these things.  You know how much we have always thought of you.  If you forget all this, and never repeat it, we may still be friends.  But if you renew this subject, I will never speak to you again alone, as long as I live.”

He began to protest; but she insisted, with the calm cruelty of a woman who sees her advantage over the man she loves.  “If you say another word, it is the end of our acquaintance, and perhaps it is best that it should end.  We can hardly be again as we were.”

Farnham was speechless, like one waked in the cold air out of a tropical dream.  He had been carried on for the last hour in a whirlwind of emotion, and now he had met an obstacle against which it seemed that nothing could be done.  If he had planned his avowal, he might have been prepared for rejection; but he had been hurried into it with no thought of what the result would be, and he was equally unprovided for either issue.  In face of the unwavering voice and bearing of Alice, who seemed ten times more beautiful than ever as she stood before him as steady and unresponsive as a young Fate, his hot speech seemed suddenly smitten powerless.  He only said: 

“It shall be as you wish.  If I ever offend you again, I will take my punishment upon myself and get out of your way.”

She did not dare to say another word, for fear it would be too kind.  She gave him her hand; it was soft and warm as he pressed it; and if he had only known how much softer and warmer her heart was, he would have covered her hand with a thousand kisses.  But he bowed and took his leave, and she stood by the lattice and saw him go away, with eyes full of tears and a breast filled with the tenderest ruth and pity—­for him and for herself.