"Oh, Dick," she murmured. Her hands were clasped about his neck. She hid her face against his coat, and when he would raise it she would not suffer him. But in a little while she drew herself apart, and, holding his hands, looked at him with a great pride.
"My Dick," she said, and she laughed—a low sweet laugh of happiness which thrilled to the heart of her lover.
"I'll tell you something," she said. "When I said good-bye to him—to the
Prince—he asked me if I was going to marry you."
"And you answered?"
"That you hadn't asked me."
"Now I have. Violet!" he whispered.
But now she held him off, and suddenly her face grew serious.
"Dick, I will tell you something," she said, "now, so that I may never tell you it again. Remember it, Dick! For both our sakes remember it!"
"Well?" he asked. "What is it?"
"Don't forgive so easily," she said very gravely, "when we both know that there is something real to be forgiven." She let go of his hands before he could answer, and ran from him up the steps into the house. Linforth saw no more of her that night.