Now I will take off that ugly mask of yours,
for I would look into your eyes. I find them pleasant, Vernoon," and
without waiting for his permission, she sat up and did so. "Ah!" she
went on, "we shall be happy when we are married, shall we not? Do not
be afraid, Vernoon, I will not eat out your heart as I have those of the
men that went before you. We will live together until we are old, and
die together at last, and together be born again, and so on and on till
the end which even I cannot foresee. Why do you not smile, Vernoon, and
say that you are pleased, and that you will be happy with me who loved
you from the moment that my eyes fell upon you in sleep? Speak, Vernoon,
lest I should grow angry with you."
"I don't know what to say," answered Alan despairingly through Jeekie,
"the honour is too great for me, who am but a wandering trader who came
here to barter Little Bonsa against the gold I need"--to support my wife
and family, he was about to add, then remembering that this statement
might not be well received, substituted, "to support my old parents and
eight brothers and sisters who are dependent upon me, and remain hungry
until I return to them.
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