"Cousin Joanna."
"Yes, John."
Captain Trevellyan bent a yet more ardent scrutiny upon the fire.
"It seems the wrong time to say anything about it, but you always understand, and she and I could neither of us bear that you shouldn't know it at once. I couldn't go away without telling you. Not," said Johnnie, suddenly turning round and facing her, "that anything is settled, you know."
"Except the only thing that matters," said Joanna softly.
"One thing that makes us both care so much," he said diffidently, "is that we both care so much for you."
She gave him both hands, regally, and he stooped and kissed them as he might have a queen's.
Presently she said: "I'm so glad, dear Johnnie. Nothing in the world could make me happier."
It was past eleven o'clock before John left her, and his final inquiry, standing at the hall door, made her laugh outright.
"You don't think any one will guess, do you? She doesn't want anything said till her father knows, and unluckily I can't get down to Wales and see him now. There won't be time. But you didn't guess till I told you, did you?"