"You are very considerate." "I don't pretend to be considerate--except of myself.

I've waited, and held my hand until now, because I wanted to see you before doing a thing which would mean certain ruin for du Laurier.

I love you as much as I ever did; even more, because, in common with most men, I value what I find hard to get.

To-night I ask you again to marry me.

Give me a different answer from that you gave me before, and I'll be silent about what I know." "What you know of the document you mentioned ?" I asked, my heart drumming an echo of its beating in my ears.
"Yes." "But--I thought you said that its loss was already discovered ?" (Oh, I was keeping myself well under control, though a mistake now would surely cost me more than I dared count!) For half a second he was taken aback, at a loss what answer to make.
Half a second--no more; yet that hardly perceptible hesitation told me what I had been playing with him to find out.
"Discovered by me," he explained.