“We can let all that pass,” he said. “We were both to blame that night, perhaps, but if one can afford to forgive, surely the other can.”
“I should be so—so glad to be friends again,” said Ess, with a catch in her voice.
“I want it to be something more, although I’ll be grateful if it can never be less, than friend,” he said gravely. “Ess, I want you to wipe out all that has gone between. Can we do that and go back to that moment when I lifted you to my saddle and kissed you good-bye?” He leaned towards her in the darkness, and his voice shook. “Can we do that, Ess?” Her mind and her body were quivering and thrilling at the tone in his voice and the light touch of his hand on hers as it lay on the bridge-rail, and a longing swept over her to only say “Yes,” and be within the rest and shelter of his arms; but she forced herself to stand motionless and to speak evenly.
“Before we can do that, Steve,” she said, “I have to—I want to tell you that I know I was wrong that night—no, please let me say it. It was only after I knew what Ned Gunliffe was capable of thinking of myself that I realised how—that I should never have listened to him. Now, if you say you will forgive me for believing him and refusing your word....”
“Stop a moment, Ess,” he said firmly. “We’ve had some misunderstandings between us, and I don’t wish to have another or let an old one live. Ned believed he was right, and he had reason enough to think he was right. Don’t blame him altogether.”
“I don’t,” she said quickly. “But even if he did, I should never have thought it. But it is enough that I don’t believe it now, and that I know you did nothing I would blame you for.”
“And is it enough,” he asked, “if I tell you this? That Ned was right so far—there was a woman who had left me at daybreak, as he saw, who came to me night after night when she could.”
Silence fell between them, and the rush and wash of the river ran unbroken for long seconds. Steve moved his hand from hers, and his hand gripped the rail till the knuckles cracked. And, more than the chill of the night struck on her hand when he moved his warm fingers, the chill of his words struck on her heart. Was she to lose him then after all? Was he making it impossible for her....
His voice, very soft and gentle, cut her thoughts.
“Ess, will you tell me—it fits here, though you may not see it—why did you break with Ned?”