She drew away from him and caught her breath.
"Why not?" he asked. "I shan't be any the richer for waiting, and—and I want you very badly."
"But I am here—you have got me," she said, with all the innocence of a child. "Oh, why should we hurry?"
He bit his pipe hard.
"I know," he said, rather huskily. "But I want you altogether—for my very own. I don't want to have to part with you at the gate of The Cottage. You don't understand; but I don't want you to. But, Nell, as we are going to be married, we might as well be married now as months hence."
Her head sank lower; the Annie Laurie lost the wind, and fell off and rolled on the ground swell.
"Do you—want to marry me—so soon?" she murmured.
"So soon!" he echoed. "Why, it is months—weeks—since we were engaged."
"But—but—aren't you happy—content?" she asked. "I—I am so happy. I know that you love me; that is happiness enough."
He drew her to him and kissed her with a reverence which he thought no woman would have received from him.