Lalita put her head against his shoulder.
“You do not – have to marry me,” she whispered, “if you would really – prefer to be free.”
“Then what do you suggest I do with you?” he asked.
“I could – stay here with you,” she replied, “and if you are – ashamed of me – when your smart friends come to visit you – I could always – hide as I offered to do before.”
Lord Heywood laughed and it was a very happy sound.
“You know quite well that I want what you want,” he said, “and now we can put things on a very much more traditional basis.”
Lalita looked up at him in a puzzled fashion and he went on,
“What I am saying, my precious darling, is that I can now ask you to marry me with a clear conscience. So will you, my adorable one, do me the very great honour of becoming my wife?”
There was so
