"I want to hold your hand in mine, if I may," he answered simply. "I think it will help to solve the difficulty. Thank you! Yes; I thought you were trembling. Now, why, I wonder?"
She did not answer him. Her head was bent.
"Don't!" he said gently. "There is no cause. Didn't I tell you I would shunt if you didn't want me?"
Still she was silent, her hand lying passive in his.
"Come!" he said. "I want to understand, don't you know. That note of yours. You say in it that you accepted me for the sake of my money. Even so. But I reckon that is more a reason for sticking to me than for throwing me over."
He paused, but her head only drooped a little lower.
"Doesn't that reason still exist?" he asked her, point blank.
She shivered at the direct question, but she answered it.
"Yes; it does. And that's why I'm ashamed to go on."
"Why ashamed?" he asked. "How do you know my reason for wanting to marry you is as good since I never told you what it was?"
She looked up then, suddenly and swiftly, and caught a curious glint in the blue eyes that watched her.
"I do know," she said, speaking quickly, impulsively. "And that's why--I can't bear--that you should despise me."
"Ah!" he said. "Do you really care what an outsider like myself thinks of you?"
The colour flamed suddenly in her white face, but he went on in his quiet drawl as if he had not seen it:
"If I thought it was for your happiness, believe me, I would set you free. But, so far, you haven't given me any reason that could justify such a step. Can't you think of one? Honestly, now?"
She shook her head. Her eyes were full of blinding tears.
"What is it, then?" urged Kenyon. And suddenly his voice was as soft as a woman's. "Has the right man turned up unexpectedly, after all? Is it for his sake?"
"Oh, don't!" she cried passionately. "Don't! You hurt me!"
And, turning sharply from him, she hid her face, and broke into anguished weeping.
Kenyon stood quite still for perhaps ten seconds; then he moved close to her, and put his arm round the slight, sobbing figure.
She did not start or attempt to resist him.
"There, there!" he whispered soothingly. "I knew there was a reason. Don't cry, dear! It will be all right--all right. Never mind the beastly money. There's going to be a big boom in the Winhalla Railway shares, and you'll make your fortune over it. Yes; I know all about that. A friend told me. There's a big capitalist pushing behind. They have gone down this week, but they are going to rise like a spring tide next. And then--you'll be free to marry the right man, eh, dear? I sha'n't stand in your way. I'll even come and dance at the wedding, if you'll have me."