I threw my arms around her and paid back, with interest, the kiss I had
kept so long. A burning blush overspread her face.
"Oh, Roy! how could you?" she exclaimed, reproachfully.
I had gone too far to retreat; the words which for years had filled my
heart struggled up to my lips and clamored for utterance.
"Florence!" I cried, passionately, "I love you! and I want you to be
entirely mine! Take me, and cure me of the bashful folly which has been
the bane of my life!"
She did not reply. I was in a tumult of fear and hope, but a sort of
desperate courage kept me firm.
"One word, Florence, only one word! Am I to be consigned to Hades, or
Paradise? Do not keep me in suspense!"
She nestled closer to my side; her soft cheek rested against mine; her
breath swept my lips. She spoke but one word in accents of deepest
tenderness, and that word was my name--
"Roy!"
"Florence! my darling!"
I trust that everybody will forgive me, and feel charitably toward me,
when I declare on my honor that I was happier, at that moment, than I had
ever been in my life before! "Popping the question" is acknowledged by
all to be a serious piece of business; and if ordinary men find it a
serious business, how much more terrible must it be to a bashful
individual like myself?
A silence fell between Florence and me; perhaps I was holding her so
close to my heart that the effort of speaking was difficult, I should not
wonder.
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