They sat holding hands, gazing at each other. In the silence, without the fever of caresses, he had come nearer to her than at any previous moment. They were two children who had experimented with things they did not understand, and were a little frightened at what had happened and a little glad.
“You called me Teddy just now,” he whispered. “It’s the third time.”
She smiled at him with a flicker of her old wickedness. “I didn’t intend to. It slipped out because—because I was so unhappy.”
“But you needn’t be unhappy. Neither of us need be unhappy. Everything’s in our own hands. I’d work for you, Desire. I’d become famous for you. We’d live life splendidly. The way we’ve been living is stupid and wasteful; it doesn’t lead anywhere. If you’d marry me and come back with me——”
“To-morrow?” she questioned. “Meester Deek, you didn’t go and book two berths? You weren’t as foolish as that?”
He sought her lips. She turned her face ever so slightly, as though apologizing for a necessary unkindness! His look of disappointment brought tears to her eyes. She stroked his cheek gently in atonement.
“You weren’t as foolish as that?”
He hung his head. “No, I wasn’t: I wish I had been, and I would be if you——”
She stared beyond him, watching pictures form and dissolve before her inward eyes.
“We could sail to-morrow,” he urged her; “or wait till after Christmas. I’d wait for you for years if you’d only say that some day—— Can’t we at least be engaged?”