I could
hardly escape. At last Bernard spoke again. "I should like to have
gone round with you on your tour, Melissa," he said. "I don't know
Italy; I don't suppose by myself I could even appreciate it. But
if YOU were by my side, you'd have taught me what it all meant;
and then I think I might perhaps understand it."
Melissa drew a deep breath. "I wish I could take it all over again,"
she answered, half sighing. "And I didn't see Naples, either. That
was a great disappointment. I should like to have seen Naples, I
must confess, so as to know I could at least in the end die happy."
"Why do you go back?" Bernard asked, suddenly, with a bounce,
looking down at that wee hand that trembled upon the taffrail.
"Because I can't help myself," Melissa answered, in a quivering
voice. "I should like--I should like to live always in England."
"Have you any special preference for any particular town?" Bernard
asked, moving closer to her--though, to be sure, he was very, very
near already.
"N--no; n--none in particular," Melissa stammered out, faintly,
half sidling away from him.
"Not Cambridge, for example?" Bernard asked, with a deep gulp and
an audible effort.
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