"Do you mean that you love--your work--better than you love me?"
"No! It isn't that! That's not fair!" cried the girl. "Do you love
your work better than you love me? Of course not! You love both. So
do I. Can't you see? Why should I have to give up anything?"
"You do not have to," he said patiently. "I cannot compel you to marry
me. But now, when at last--after these awful years--I can really offer
you a home--you refuse!"
"I have not refused," she said slowly.
His voice lightened again.
"Ah, dearest! And you will not! You will marry me?"
"I will marry you, Ross!"
"And when? When, dearest?"
"As soon as you are ready."
"But--can you drop this at once?"
"I shall not drop it."
Her voice was low, very low, but clear and steady.
He rose to his feet with a muffled exclamation, and walked the length of
the piazza and back.
"Do you realize that you are saying no to me, Diantha?"
"You are mistaken, dear. I have said that I will marry you whenever you
choose. But it is you who are saying, 'I will not marry a woman with a
business.'"
"This is foolishness!" he said sharply. "No man--that is a man--would
marry a woman and let her run a business."
"You are mistaken," she answered. "One of the finest men I ever knew
has asked me to marry him--and keep on with my work!"
"Why didn't you take him up?"
"Because I didn't love him.
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