“Yes - yes, of course,” Evander replied, without any hesitation, as if to prove he was expecting to have married her by then, although he was not certain she meant that remark to have anything to do with marriage. “I would like that very much. I would have had you help this year, if I had known what an eye you had for it,” he added, wondering whether he had convinced her that he had every intention to propose to her, or whether he was just laying it on too thick and all she supposed he cared about was the decorations.
Perhaps he just ought to propose now and be done with it? But that was unconscionable: he could not put in more preparation towards a picnic than a proposal. Asking her to marry him on the fly like this would not speak highly of how worthy he thought her. It would not even signify. Doing anything on the fly was about as nerve-wracking as the thought of her being disappointed in her gifts, in fact, so perhaps he should rule that out. After all, he ought to speak again to her family too... His mind was reeling, then, at everything to be considered - and obviously Caroline had noticed something was off.
In light of his desire to illustrate his seriousness towards their courtship (or in truth perhaps more in light of his panic, a desire to dissuade her from speaking again, from dropping yet another hint of her impatience?) Evander leant towards her on the couch and kissed her on the mouth, abruptly, with rather more urgency than he had meant, now praying that the maid would be even later to step in.
Perhaps he just ought to propose now and be done with it? But that was unconscionable: he could not put in more preparation towards a picnic than a proposal. Asking her to marry him on the fly like this would not speak highly of how worthy he thought her. It would not even signify. Doing anything on the fly was about as nerve-wracking as the thought of her being disappointed in her gifts, in fact, so perhaps he should rule that out. After all, he ought to speak again to her family too... His mind was reeling, then, at everything to be considered - and obviously Caroline had noticed something was off.
In light of his desire to illustrate his seriousness towards their courtship (or in truth perhaps more in light of his panic, a desire to dissuade her from speaking again, from dropping yet another hint of her impatience?) Evander leant towards her on the couch and kissed her on the mouth, abruptly, with rather more urgency than he had meant, now praying that the maid would be even later to step in.
