"His arm dropped from my waist, and I felt him give one great start. After that he sat by me, still, and cold, and silent, as if my question had struck him dumb. I put my arm round his neck, and lifted my head again on his shoulder. Whatever the spell was I had laid on him, my coming closer in that way seemed to break it.
"'Who told you?' He stopped. 'No,' he went on, 'nobody can have told you. What made you suspect--?' He stopped again.
"'Nobody told me,' I said; 'and I don't know what made me suspect. Women have strange fancies sometimes. Is Midwinter really your name?'
"'I can't deceive you,' he answered, after another interval of silence; 'Midwinter is not really my name.'
"I nestled a little closer to him.
"'What is your name?' I asked.
"He hesitated.
"I lifted my face till my cheek just touched his. I persisted, with my lips close at his ear: "'What, no confidence in me even yet! No confidence in the woman who has almost confessed she loves you--who has almost consented to be your wife!'
"He turned his face to mine. For the second time he tried to kiss me, and for the second time I stopped him.
"'If I tell you my name,' he said, 'I must tell you more.'
"I let my cheek touch his again.
"'Why not?' I said. 'How can I love a man--much less marry him--if he keeps himself a stranger to me?'
"There was no answering that, as I thought. But he did answer it.
"'It is a dreadful story,' he said. 'It may darken all your life, if you know it, as it has darkened mine.'
"I put my other arm round him, and persisted. 'Tell it me; I'm not afraid; tell it me.'
"He began to yield to my other arm.
"'Will you keep it a sacred secret?' he said. 'Never to be breathed--never to be known but to you and me?'
"I promised him it should be a secret. I waited in a perfect frenzy of expectation. Twice he tried to begin, and twice his courage failed him.
"'I can't!' he broke out in a wild, helpless way. I can't tell it!'
"My curiosity, or more likely my temper, got beyond all control. He had irritated me till I was reckless what I said or what I did. I suddenly clasped him close, and pressed my lips to his. 'I love you!' I whispered in a kiss. 'Now will you tell me?'