"You rescued them?" he asks, amazed.
"At the risk of burning my fingers: so you may guess how I valued them. Now they are purified, and you must never get into such a naughty temper again. Promise."
"I promise faithfully."
"Now I shall wear it again," says Molly, regarding her ring lovingly, "under happier—oh, how much happier—circumstances. Put it on, Teddy, and say after me, 'Darling Molly, pardon me for having compelled you to ask my hand in marriage!'"
"I will not,"—laughing.
"You must. You are my property now, and must do as I bid you. So you may as well begin at once. Say it, sir, directly!"
He says it.
"Now you know what a horrible hen-pecking there will be for you in the future. I shall rule you with a rod of iron."
"And I shall hug my chains."
"Think what a life I am condemning you to. Are you not frightened? And all because—I cannot do without you. Oh, Teddy," cries Molly Bawn, suddenly, and without a word of warning, bursting into a passion of tears, and flinging herself into his willing arms, "are you not glad—glad—that we belong to each other again?"