"She may have imagined it, for she heard I was a frequent visitor to Midbranch.

But let us set all that aside.

I am on fire with love for you.

Will you tell me that you can return that love, or that I must give up all hope?
This is the most important question of my whole life.

I beg you, from the bottom of my heart, to decide it." "Mr Croft," said she, "when you used to come, nearly every day, to see me at Midbranch, and we took those long walks in the woods, you never talked in this way.