"You think precisely as I
do, too, only you are too loyal and too chivalrous to own it."
There was a pause broken only by the tinkle of the teacups.
"No, Bob, you let Cynthia alone. She will get over it. And if you
have found the jewel that you think you have, be brave enough to assert
your freedom and marry her. You are not pledged to Cynthia," went on
the musical voice. "Just because you two chanced to grow up together
there is no reason any one should assume that the affair is settled. I
suppose you are afraid of disappointing the family. Then there is your
friendship for Roger--that worries you too. And of course there is
Cynthia herself! Being a gentleman you shrink from tossing a girl's
heart back into her lap. Isn't it so?"
"To some extent, yes."
"Would it help matters, do you think, for you to marry Cynthia if you
did not love her?"
"But I care a lot for her."
"Not as you do for this other girl," said the shrewd old lady, with
eyes fixed intently on his face.
"Oh, no!" was the instant reply.
"Then, as I said before, you much better let Cynthia alone," declared
Madam Lee emphatically.
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