Noella drew in her breath.
“But I am – not prepared to – accept him!”
“Why not?”
The question sounded like a pistol shot and she replied determinedly,
“Because I-I do not – love him!”
“I have already told you that the love you talk about is of no importance and in your case merely the romantic nonsense of a young girl’s dreams.”
His voice hardened as he continued,
“It has no reality, in fact it is a mirage thought up by novelists in order to make money and believed in only by nitwits.”
“That is – not true,” Noella retorted. “It is the only possible foundation for a – happy marriage.”
She thought of her father and mother and forced herself to choose her words carefully as she said,
“I have known – people who have been – supremely and totally – happy because they – love each other
