I am sure, sweet, that he
wishes you to take my brother Geoffrey, and leave me on one side.'
'Then his wishes are not mine, Thomas. Also, though duty be strong, it
is not strong enough to force a woman to a marriage for which she has no
liking. Yet it may prove strong enough to keep a woman from a marriage
for which her heart pleads--perhaps, also, it should have been strong
enough to hold me back from the telling of my love.'
'No, Lily, the love itself is much, and though it should bring no fruit,
still it is something to have won it for ever and a day.'
'You are very young to talk thus, Thomas. I am also young, I know, but
we women ripen quicker. Perhaps all this is but a boy's fancy, to pass
with boyhood.'
'It will never pass, Lily. They say that our first loves are the
longest, and that which is sown in youth will flourish in our age.
Listen, Lily; I have my place to make in the world, and it may take a
time in the making, and I ask one promise of you, though perhaps it is a
selfish thing to seek. I ask of you that you will be faithful to me, and
come fair weather or foul, will wed no other man till you know me dead.'
'It is something to promise, Thomas, for with time come changes. Still I
am so sure of myself that I promise--nay I swear it. Of you I cannot
be sure, but things are so with us women that we must risk all upon a
throw, and if we lose, good-bye to happiness.
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