"Do you know, in spite of my joking, I do love you a great deal?"
"I would practise saying that over to myself," observed Freydis
critically. "You should let your voice break a little after the first
three words."
"I speak as I feel. I love you, Freydis, and I tell you so."
"Yes, but you are no longer a perpetual nuisance about it."
"Alas, my dear, you are no longer the unattainable Queen of the country
on the other side of the fire, and that makes a difference, certainly.
It is equally certain that I love you over and above all living women."
"Ah, but, my dearest, who loves you more than any human tongue can
tell?"
"A peculiarly obstinate and lovely imbecile," says Manuel; and he did
that which seemed suitable.
Later Freydis sighed luxuriously. "That saves you the trouble of
talking, does it not? And you talked so madly and handsomely that first
night, when you wanted to get around me on account of the image, but now
you do not make me any pretty speeches at all."
"Oh, heavens!" said Manuel, "but I am embracing a monomaniac. Dear
Freydis, whatever I might say would be perforce the same old words that
have been whispered by millions of men to many more millions of women,
and my love for you is a quite unparalleled thing which ought not to be
travestied by any such shopworn apparel.
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