Edith's sobbing had ceased, and with a woman's instinct she began to repair with deft fingers the little disorder of her dress.
"Oh, I will love you so, my darling!" she whispered. "We shall be happy; I know we shall be happy. And when I give you the best gift of all, when I give you a child, and another child...."
"Yes, yes, I know," he said. "And how their grannie will love them!"
She shrank away from him a moment at this. He had said anything that might comfort and quiet her, which came to his tongue.
"And how we shall love them!" he added quickly. "There, you look more yourself."
Still leaning on him, as if loth to let him go, she turned her tear-stained face round to the mirror above the sofa.
"Ah, but what a fright!" she said. "I shall just go and wash my face and then come back to you. Mother will be in any minute now. And I shall look into Elizabeth's room, shall I not? She—she said she wanted to know."
The sounds of the arrival of the motor hastened her departure upstairs, and next moment Mrs. Hancock came in.
"Well, it is nice to see you, my dear!" she said. "But I can't say it's a surprise, for I told Edith I was sure you would look in. But where's Edith? And where's Elizabeth?"
Edward shook hands.