Well , I 'd have no objection to marrying Ludovic . That 's frank enough for you , is n't it ? But it 's not easy to marry a man unless he asks you . And Ludovic has never asked me . '' `` Is he too shy ? '' persisted Anne . Since Theodora was in the mood , she meant to sift this puzzling affair to the bottom . Theodora dropped her work and looked meditatively out over the green slopes of the summer world . `` No , I do n't think it is that . Ludovic is n't shy . It 's just his way -- the Speed way . The Speeds are all dreadfully deliberate . They spend years thinking over a thing before they make up their minds to do it . Sometimes they get so much in the habit of thinking about it that they never get over it -- like old Alder Speed , who was always talking of going to England to see his brother , but never went , though there was no earthly reason why he should n't . They 're not lazy , you know , but they love to take their time . '' `` And Ludovic is just an aggravated case of Speedism , '' suggested Anne . `` Exactly . He never hurried in his life . Why , he has been thinking for the last six years of getting his house painted . He talks it over with me every little while , and picks out the colour , and there the matter stays .
He 's fond of me , and he means XXXXX ask me to have him sometime .
Since before for in of over that to unless with