should never regret it he interrupted her quickly if you would be my wife innocent i be the man alive ah dear � do put all your fancies aside and try to what good you would be doing to the old man if he felt quite certain that you would be the little mistress of the old farm he loves so much � i will not speak of myself � you do not care for me � but for him she looked up at him with a sudden light in her eyes could we not pretend she asked what do you mean why pretend that we re engaged � just to satisfy him couldn t you make things easy for me that way i don t quite understand he said with a puzzled air � how would it make things easy why don t you see and she spoke with hurried eagerness � when he comes home to night let innocent him think it s all right � and then � then i ll run away by myself � and it will be my fault innocent what are you talking about � and he flushed with vexation my dear girl if you dislike me so much that you would rather run away than marry me i won t say another word about it i ll manage to smooth things over with my for the present � just to prevent his himself � and you shall not be worried you must not be worried either she said tou will not understand and you do not think � but just suppose it possible that after all my own parents did remember me at last and came to look after me � and that they were perhaps dreadful wicked people robin smiled the man who t you here was a gentleman he said � uncle told me so this morning and said he was the finest looking man he had ever seen innocent was silent a moment you think he was a gentleman to desert his own child she asked robin hesitated dear you don t know the world he said � there may have been all sorts of dangers and difficulties � anyhow don t bear him any grudge he gave you to farm she sighed and made no response they had walked beyond the orchard and were now on the very edge of tiie little thicket where tomb of the de through the shadow of the leaves innocent quickened her steps come die said he followed her reluctantly almost he hated the old stone knight which served her as a subject her fancy and his fact for so many fancies and feelings and when she beckoned him to the spot where she stood beside the he showed a certain irritation of manner which did not escape her tou are cross with him she said reproachfully you must not be so he is the founder of your family and the finish of it i suppose he answered abruptly he stands between us two innocent � a cold stone creature with no heart � and you prefer him to me oh the folly of it all how can you be so cruel she looked at him wistfully � almost her resolution failed her he saw her momentary hesitation and came close up to her you do not know what love is he said catching her hand in his own � innocent you do not know if you did � if i might teach you she drew her hand away very quickly and decidedly love does not want teaching she said � it comes � when it will and where it will it has not come to me and you cannot force it robin if i were your wife � your wife without any wife s love for you � i should grow to hate farm � yes i should � i should pine and die in very place where i have been so happy � and i should feel that le � here she pointed to the � would almost rise from this tomb and me she spoke with sudden almost dramatic vehemence and he gazed at her in mute amazement her eyes flashed and her face was lit up by a glow of inspiration and resolve you take me just for the ordinary sort of girl she went on � a girl to caress and and marry and make the mother of your children � now for innocent that you might choose among the girls about here any of whom would be glad to have you for a husband but do you think i am really fit for that sort of life always � can t you believe in anything else but marriage for a woman as she thus spoke she unconsciously created a new impression on his mind � a veil seemed to be suddenly lifted and he saw her as he had never before seen her � a creature removed isolated and through the force of some intellectual quality which he had not previously suspected he answered her very gently � dear i cannot believe in anything else but love for a woman he said � she was created and intended for love and without love she must surely be unhappy � ah yes she responded quickly � but marriage is not love his brows contracted you must not speak in that way innocent he said seriously � it is wrong � people would you her eyes lightened and she smiled yes � i m sure people would die answered � but people don t matter � to me it is truth that matters � truth � and love he looked at her perplexed why should you think marriage is not love he asked � it is the one thing all lovers wish for � to be married and to live always oh they wish for it yes poor she 