"
He paused a moment for a reply, but she spoke not; and with something
like impetuosity he proceeded:--
"You make no reply, Katharine? You hear my entreaty--my prayer. It
involves no impropriety; it stands in the way of no other duty, since, I
trust, the relationship between us is as binding as any other which may
call for your regard. All that I ask is, that you will not dispose of
yourself to another, your heart not going with your hand, whatever may
be the authority which may require it; at least, not until you are fully
assured that it is beyond my power to claim you, or I become unworthy to
press the claim."
"It is strange, Mark, that you should speak in a manner of which there
is so little need. The pledge long since uttered as solemnly as you now
require, under these very boughs, should satisfy you."
"So it should, Kate--and so it would, perhaps, could I now reason on any
subject. But my doubts are not now of your love, but of your firmness in
resisting a control at variance with your duty to yourself.
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