“That is how I saw you the night you were so frightened when you ran into me in the passage,” he said. “Although you were terror-struck, I thought that no woman could look more beautiful or be so soft and sweet and enchanting in every way.”
“You – kissed me,” Brucena whispered, “without asking if – you might do so.”
“It was very remiss of me,” he laughed, “but I obeyed an uncontrollable impulse, which I have never since regretted.”
“I have – never regretted it – either,” Brucetia murmured, “but I have often wondered if I had not been so frightened at that particular moment – whether you would have kissed me – or have been sure that you – loved me.”
“I was sure of myself but not of you,” he answered. “I thought perhaps you still hated me.”
“I loved you – although I did not – know it.”
