Now I'm ready for your
sure-enough answer."
She flashed a look at him that mocked his confidence. "I've heard
about the vanity of girls, but never in my experience have I met
any so colossal as this masculine vanity now on exhibit. Do you
really think, Mr. Collins, that all you have to do to win a woman
is to look impressive and tell her that you have decided to marry
her?"
"Do I look as if I thought that?" he asked her.
"It is perfectly ridiculous--your absurd attitude of taking
everything for granted. Well, it may be the Tucson custom, but
where I come from it is not in vogue."
"No, I reckon not. Back there a boy persuades girl he loves her
by ruining her digestion with candy and all sorts of ice
arrangements from soda-fountain. But I'm uncivilized enough to
assume you're a woman of sense and not a spoiled schoolgirl."
The velvet night was attuned to the rhythm of her love. She felt
herself, in this sea of moon romance, being swept from her
moorings. Star-eyed, she gazed at him while she still fought
again his dominance.
"You ARE uncivilized. Would you beat me when I didn't obey?" she
asked tremulously.
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