He stopped for an instant and gazed up into her eyes, and his lips were trembling.
“Do you know why, Mamie?” he asked, at last. “Can’t you guess why?”
Something in his face brought the hot colour to her cheeks, and she struggled to free herself from his arm.
“Let me go, Allan,” she pleaded. “You mustn’t—”
“Not yet. Not just for a moment. Do you know what you are to me, Mamie? The dearest thing in life! And I’m going to kiss you.”
“No, no!” she cried. “Allan—”
But he drew her lips down to his—such tender lips they were, so sweet, so dewy.
“And I’m going to marry you as soon as I get well,” he announced, his cheek against hers. “And we’ll live happy ever after, like the prince and princess in the fairy tale. That is, of course, provided the princess is agreeable.”
She drew a quick, startled breath, and lay still for a moment, warm against his heart; then she drew his hands away, raised herself and looked down at him with shining eyes.
“Do you mean it, Allan?” she whispered.