He sighed deeply, and then, with a gesture of impatience, flung the half-smoked cigar into the fire. He said, “If I asked you to marry me, would you stay?” She said hopelessly, “Oh, Cosmo.” “You see, I find it hard to contemplate a future without you.” “If I married any man,” she told him, “it would be you. But I told you, that first day I came to Ca’n D’alt. I’ve never wanted to be married, have children. I love people. I’m fascinated by them, but I need my privacy too. To be myself. To live alone.” He said, “I love you.”
