"Do not make me say it again," said Joe, entreatingly. She was not used to
entreating so much as to commanding, and her voice quavered uncertainly.
"Do you mean to say," said Ronald, speaking loudly in his anger, and then
dropping his voice as he remembered the passers-by,--"do you mean to tell
me, Joe, after all this, when I have come to America just because you told
me to, that you will not marry me? I do not believe it. You are making fun
of me."
"No, Ronald," Joe answered sorrowfully, but regaining her equanimity in
the face of Surbiton's wrath, "I am in earnest. I am very, very fond of
you, but I do not love you at all, and I never can marry you."
Ronald was red in the face, and he trod fast and angrily, tapping the
pavement with his stick. He was very angry, but he said nothing.
"It is much better to be honest about it," said Joe, still very pale; and
when she had spoken, her little mouth closed tightly.
"Oh, yes," said Ronald, who was serious by this time; "it is much better
to be honest, now that you have brought me three thousand miles to hear
what you have to say--much better.
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