The Argosy — page 343: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

322 In the Dead of Night. Two or three minutes passed in silence. Then Tomspoke. “ Jane,” he said, and it was the first time he had ever called her by her Christian name, “ Jane, your father has forbidden me to make love to you.” It seemed as if Jane had nothing to say either for or against this state- ment. She only breathed a little more quickly, and a lovelier colour flushed her cheeks. But just then Diamond swerved towards a tempting tuft of grass. The carriage gavea slight jerk, and Tom fancied—but it might be nothing more than fancy—that, instinctively, Jane drew a little closerto him. And when Diamond had been punished by the slightest possible flick with the whip between his ears, and was again jogging peacefully on, Jane did not get farther away again, being, perhaps, still slightly nervous ; and when Tom looked down there was a little gloved hand resting, light as a feather, on hisarm. It was impossible to resist the temptation. Dispensing with the whip for a moment he lifted the little hand tenderly to his lips and kissed it. He was not repulsed. “Ves, dearest,” he went on, “I am absolutely forbidden to make love to you. I can only imagine that your aunt has been talking to your father about us. Be that as it may, he has forbidden me to walk out with you, or even to see you alone. The reason why I asked you to meet me to-day was to tell you of these things.” Still Jane kept silence. Only from the little hand, which had some- how found its way back on to his arm, there came the faintest possible pressure, hardly heavy enough to have crushed a butterfly. “T told him that I loved you,” resumed Tom, “and he could not say that it was a crime to do so. But when I told him that I had never made love to you, or asked you to marry me, he seemed inclined to doubt my veracity. However, I set his mind at rest by giving him my - word of honour that, even supposing you were willing to have me—a point respecting which I had very strong doubts indeed—I would not take you for my wife without first obtaining his full consent to do’so.” Here Diamond, judging from the earnestness of Tom’s tone that his thoughts were otherwhere, and deeming the opportunity a favourable one to steal a little breathing time, gradually slackened his slow pace into a still slower one, till at last he came to a dead stand. Admonished ~ by a crack of the whip half a yard above his head that Tom was still wide awake, he put on a tremendous spurt—for him—which, as they were going down hill at the time, was not difficult. But no sooner had they reached a level bit of road again than the spurt toned itself down to the customary slow trot, with, however, an extra whisk of the tail now and then which seemed to imply: ‘“ Mark well what a fiery steed I could be if I only chose to exert myself.” “ All this but brings me to one point,” said Tom: ‘‘that I have never yet told you that I loved you, that I have never yet asked you _ to become my wife. To-day, then—here—this very moment, | tell you that I do love you as truly and sincerely as it is possible for man to .€O Gomilcbooks