"I should certainly think so."
"I hope you'll go there again. I like you to. I've had such lovely times since you began to go to mountains."
Nancy's reception of his news was different. He felt it due to her to break the silence she had created. It was what he wished to do, and what he would have expected of her had she made and lodged with a new acquaintance; but it was hard to speak naturally through a barrier, and there was a hesitation in his voice which had no companion in his heart.
"Oh, Edward!" She broke into tears.
"My darling, what is it?"
"I don't know, but somehow they seem to be taking you from me."
"My dear, my dear," he said, distressed, "no one but yourself can do that."
"But these women—I'm not like them; I'm not strong or helpful."
"You are my wife!" he answered fiercely.
Her humour overcame her weeping. "Oh yes!" she said, laughing while her tears still trickled.