Cecily turned swiftly. "Yah! Boo!" she ejaculated. "Yah! Boo!
Oh, Tony, how thrilling! I'd say 'Pip! Pip!'"
She, too, had her hands behind her, and stood with her head a little on one side regarding him. Her face was in shadow, and he saw none of the tender mirth in her eyes. "Would you let me say 'Pip! Pip!' to a perfect stranger, Tony?—and me walking-out with you!"
"Let you!" he said with a sort of laugh like a gasp and stepped towards her.
For an instant Fear peeped out of the two windows of her soul, and she swiftly raised her hands as if to fend off the inevitable. But the King's Messenger was swifter still and had them imprisoned, crumpled in his somewhere between their galloping hearts.
"My dear," he said, "my dear, I love you!"
Her head dropped back in the shelter of his arm, and she searched his face with eyes like a Madonna on the Judgment Seat.
"I know," she said softly, and surrendered lips and soul as a child gives itself to Sleep.
Through the closed door came the muffled sound of voices in the hall.
Uncle Bill was talking in tones that were, for him, unusually loud.
Someone fumbling at the handle of the door appeared to be experiencing
some difficulty in opening it.
Cecily, released, turned to the window like a white flash and buried her hot face among the roses. The King's Messenger remained where he stood, motionless.
Slowly the door opened, letting in the murmur of voices. Uncle Bill had his hand on the knob and stood with his shoulder turned to the interior of the room, apparently listening to something one of his guests was saying.