He took her in his arms for one brief moment—he forgot all about Maria Stubbs—and kissed her lips and her eyes.
'My darling!' he murmured—'my darling!'
Lovers have such a limited vocabulary, they are obliged to have recourse to unmeaning repetitions.
Miss Stubbs had behaved beautifully till now—no Newnham girl could have behaved better; but there is a limit to all human endurance, and the limit of Maria's endurance had been reached.
'I hope you are nearly ready,' she said in a most unpleasant voice; 'because if not I must go.'
'I am quite ready, dear,' said Lucy, nearly crying. 'I have been ready a long time.'
She could have blessed Miss Stubbs for taking her away. She was dreadfully frightened, but it was with a strange, delicious terror that stirred her pulses like a tumult of joy.