"I can't say it—there aren't any words—for it!"
All his previous love-making had made Anne remember that first agitated confession, "I think of you like the evening star—you're as far out of reach as if you were up there in heaven." Always there had been something almost humble in his deference, as if he had admitted himself a vassal lifting eyes to royalty. Now he was seizing her with the fierce proprietary embrace of one who claims his own and who will not be denied. The arms that held her pressed her till they hurt in the embrace of the untamed man for his own woman, and, since for her too, love was the great paradox, the fierce and ardent flood that had swept him lifted her on its tide and rang through her with a sort of wild triumph.
"You—you don't have to say anything—now," she told him somewhat faintly. If it had been up yonder, with the jutting escarpments of the hills about them, this wild moment would have shaped itself in more orthodox fashion with the eternal fitnesses. But the moment left them with something of tumultuous exaltation, as though they had burst together through the shell of a superficial world and touched the essentials.
After a little, when again they could realize the more tranquil voices of the birds and the little winds, Anne, with a hand on each of his shoulders, spoke slowly and very thoughtfully:
"I don't need to be told, Boone. If I didn't know, life wouldn't be worth much to me."
"When I'm away from you," he answered still in a shaken voice, "I always hear your voice. I always see you, yet when I come back to you, you're always a surprise to me—I find that my memory hasn't been able to do you justice."
She was silent for a little, and then into the serene contentment of her eyes crept a tiny shadow of trouble.
"Boone, dear," she said soberly, "we have a long time to wait—and we can't afford to—let ourselves—be tempest-tossed this way—until we can see the end. We can't be patient and—like this—at the same time."
"How can I be patient?" he demanded.
"You know," she reminded him. "I'm not wearing an engagement ring yet and—"