" And I need you, my love," he said. " I need you so much that I panic when I think that perhaps I will not be able to persuade you to come back with me to Enfield. I need you so much that I cannot quite contemplate the rest of my life if it must be lived without you. I need you so much that—Well, the words speak for themselves. I need you." " To look after Augusta?" she said. She dared not hear what he was surely saying. She dared not hope. " To look after Enfield? To provide you with an heir?" " Yes," he said, and her heart sank like a stone to be squashed somewhere between her slippers and the parlor carpet." And to be my friend and my confidant and my comfort. And to be my lover. "