CHAPTER SEVENFor a moment they stood staring at each other.
Then Della realised that the Marquis was still in the smoking jacket he had worn at dinner and therefore he not been to bed.
Almost without meaning to she blurted out,
“Why are – you – here? Why – have you – come?”
There was a pause before the Marquis replied very quietly,
“I have come to ask you a question.”
Della gave a cry and put her hands up to her ears.
“No! No!” she exclaimed. “It was so – wonderful, so – perfect – you cannot spoil it.”
She turned away as she spoke.
She could not bear to look at him any longer.
“So wonderful – so perfect,” the Marquis repeated. “That is just what I felt and that is why, my darling, I am asking you how soon will you marry me?”
Della became very still.
She could not believe what s
