He bent down over her now, for her face was hidden in her hands, all
sense of sight shut out, all sense of hearing, too, save the words he
was pouring into her ear--words which burned their way into her heart,
making It throb for a single moment with gratified pride, and then
growing heavy as lead as she knew how impossible it was for her to pay
the debt in the way which he desired.
"I can't, doctor; oh, I can't!" she sobbed. "I never dreamed of this;
never supposed you could want me for your wife. I'm only a little
girl--only sixteen last October--but I'm so sorry for you, who have
been so kind. If I only could love you as you deserve! I do love you,
too; but not the way you mean. I cannot be Maddy Holbrook; no; doctor,
I cannot."
She was sobbing piteously, and in his concern for her the doctor
forgot somewhat the stunning blow he had received.
"Don't, Maddy darling!" he said, drawing her trembling form closely to
him, "Don't be so distressed. I did not much think you'd tell me yes,
and I was a fool to ask you. I am too old; but, Maddy, Guy is as old
as I am."
The doctor did not know why he said this, unless in the first keenness
of his disappointment there was a satisfaction in telling her that the
objection to his age would apply also to Guy. But it did not affect
Maddy one whit, or give her the slightest inkling of his meaning. He
saw it did not, and the pain was less to bear. Still, he would know
certainly if he had a rival, and so he said to her: "Do you love some one else, Maddy? Is another preferred before me, and
is that the reason why you cannot love me?"
"No," Maddy answered, through her tears. "There is no one else. Whom
should I love, unless it were you? I know nobody but Guy."
That name touched a sore, aching chord in the doctor's heart, but he
gave no sign of the jealousy which had troubled him, and for a moment
there was silence in the room; then, as the doctor began faintly to
realize that Maddy had refused him, there awoke within him a more
intense desire to win her than he had ever felt before. He would not
give her up without another effort, and laying her unresisting head
upon his bosom, he pleaded again for her love, going over all the
past, and telling of the interest awakened when first she came to him
that April afternoon, almost two years ago; then of the little sick
girl who had grown so into the heart never before affected in the
least by womankind, and lastly of the beautiful woman, as he called
her, sitting beside him now in all the freshness of her young
womanhood. And Maddy, as she listened, felt for him a strange kind of
pity, a wish to do his bidding if she only could, and why shouldn't
she? Girls had married those whom they did not love, and been
tolerably happy with them, too. Perhaps she could be so with the
doctor. There was everything about him to respect, and much which she
could love. Should she try? There was a great lump in Maddy's throat
as she tried to speak, but it cleared away and she said very sadly,
but very earnestly, too: "Dr. Holbrook, would you like me to say yes with my lips, when all the
time there was something at my heart tugging to answer no?"