"But he won't keep you in London?" asked he.
Helena laughed.
"Certainly he won't, for I shall keep myself," she said. "I shall try to persuade Jessie to go down to Lacebury with Cousin Marion, and I think I shall succeed. And where will you be? Up in Scotland, I suppose."
He put down the end of the cigarette which Helena had given him. He was less likely, if he was smoking, to smell the faint odour of cigar that had mounted the stairs. But, as a matter of fact, he would not have noticed the smell of burned feathers just then.
He turned to her quickly.
"I shall be—wherever you will permit me to be," he said. "But, wherever that is, mayn't we be together? I want never to be away from you any more. I want nothing else in the world but that."
Helena raised dewy eyes to him.
"Do you mean…?" she began. "Do you mean…?"
"Yes. And I want your answer."
"That is, 'yes,' too," she said.