"I did not suppose you could ever think that.

I--I did not mean it; oh, truly I did not mean it! You forget how young I am; how very little I know of the world and its ways.

Perhaps I have not even realized how deeply in earnest you were, have deceived myself into believing you were merely amusing yourself with me.

Why, indeed, should I think otherwise?
How could I venture to believe you would ever really care in that way for such a waif as I?
You have seen other women in that great Eastern world of which I have only read--refined, cultured, princesses, belonging to your own social circle,--how should I suppose you could forget them, and give your heart to a little outcast, a girl without a name or a home?
Rather should it be I who might remain perplexed and bewildered." "I love you," he said, with simple honesty.

"I seek you for my wife." She started at these frankly spoken words, her hands partially concealing her face, her form trembling.