“Margaret,” said the young man bitterly, “I shall never forget you. Think what you are doing before it is too late. Think how much this means to me. If you finally refuse me, you will wreck my life. I am the sort of man that a woman can make or mar. Do not, I beg of you, ruin the life of the man who loves you.”
“I am not a missionary,” cried Margaret with sudden anger. “If your life is to be wrecked, it will be through your own foolishness, and not from any act of mine. I think it cowardly of you to say that I am to be held responsible. I have no wish to influence your future one way or another.”
“Not for good, Margaret?” asked Yates with tender reproach.
“No. A man whose good or bad conduct depends on anyone but himself is not my ideal of a man.”
“Tell me what your ideal is, so that I may try to attain it.”
“You think it will be useless for me to try?”
“Margaret, I want to ask you one more question. I have no right to, but I beg you to answer me. Are you in love with anyone else?”
“No!” cried Margaret hotly. “How dare you ask me such a question?”
“Oh, it is not a crime--that is, being in love with someone else is not. I’ll tell you why I dare ask. I swear, by all the gods, that I shall win you--if not this year, then next; and if not next, then the year after. I was a coward to talk as I did; but I love you more now than I did even then. All I want to know is that you are not in love with another man.
“I think you are very cruel in persisting as you do, when you have had your answer. I say no. Never! never! never!--this year nor any other year. Is not that enough?”
“Not for me. A woman’s ‘no’ may ultimately mean ‘yes.’”
“That is true, Mr. Yates,” replied Margaret, drawing herself up as one who makes a final plunge. “You remember the question you asked me just now?--whether I cared for anyone else? I said ‘no.’ That ‘no’ meant ‘yes.’”
He was standing between her and the window, so she could not escape by the way she came. He saw she meditated flight, and made as though he would intercept her, but she was too quick for him. She ran around the house, and he heard a door open and shut.