And round the corner of the garden of the mill he came.
Toby gave a tentative growl to the intruder, in case he should prove unwelcome; but the growl had not ceased vibrating in his throat, and Jeannie had not time to correct him, when he recognised, and ran to meet Jack, muzzling a wet nose into his hand. He spoke to the dog in his low, soft voice, but he had no word seemingly for Jeannie, nor she for him, and in silence he sat down on the grass beside her. But on neither side was there embarrassment in that pause, but each drank deep of the other’s presence. Jeannie looked at him with wide-open eyes, and he at her. At length he gave a long sigh.
“You, it is you,” he said simply.
Jeannie smiled at him. The great good pause was over.
“How did you know I should be here?” she asked.
“How could it have been otherwise? It was part of the whole plan.”
“What plan?” asked she, and her heart told her.
“The plan of you and me. The great plan,” he said; “God’s plan for us.”
She leaned forward toward him.
“Oh, Jack,” she said, “it is so? Is it indeed so?”