Why Marry? - LightNovelsOnl.com
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[_smiling with love and trust_]
Except that you deserted me, dear, just when I needed you most. Ernest, Ernest! never leave me again.
ERNEST
Deserted you? Why, your brother said you were ill.
HELEN
Ah, I see ... he was mistaken.
ERNEST
[_jubilant and boyish_]
But never mind now, I've got you at last, and I'll never, never let you go. You've got to sail with me to-morrow. Together! Oh, think! Together.
[_Another embrace._
HELEN
Are you _sure_ you love me?
ERNEST
[_laughs from sheer joy of her nearness_]
Am I sure? Ten million times more to-day than yesterday.
HELEN
Even so ... it is not, and can never be, as I love you.
ERNEST
[_with her hands in his, gayly_]
Then you can apologize.
HELEN
Apologize?
ERNEST
For saying, years and years ago--in other words, last night--that you didn't think you'd marry me after all. [_She starts._] Why, what's the matter? You're trembling like a leaf. You _are_ ill!
HELEN
No; oh, no.
ERNEST
[_tenderly_]
Still a few lingering doubts? I had hoped a good night's rest would put those little prejudices to sleep forever.
HELEN
Sleep?
[_She shakes her head, gazing at him soberly._
ERNEST
So you could not sleep? Neither could I; I was too happy to sleep. I was afraid I'd miss some wondrous throbbing thought of your loveliness.
[_Takes her pa.s.sive hand, puts a kiss in it, and closes it reverently while she looks into his eyes without moving._] Do you know, I'm disappointed in love. I always thought it meant soft sighs and pretty speeches. It means an agony of longing, delicious agony, but, oh, terrific. [_She says nothing._] Dear, dear girl, it may be easy for you, but I can't stand much more of this.
HELEN
Nor I.
ERNEST
You must come to Paris with me or I'll stay home. All through the night I had waking visions of our being parted. Just when we had found each other at last. Some terrible impersonal monster stepped in between us and said: "No. Now that you have had your glimpse of heaven--away! Ye twain shall not enter here...." Silly, wasn't it? But I couldn't get the horror of it out of my head.
HELEN
[_nodding_]
Do you know why, Ernest? Because it was in mine. It came from my thought to yours. You and I are attuned like wireless instruments. Even in the old blind days, there in the laboratory I used to read your mind. Shall I tell you the name of the monster that would put us asunder?... Its name is Marriage.
