When he took off his hat she saw that his hair was cut rather closely, and very neatly brushed and combed, and she found his smile so compelling and so winning that in spite of her disappointment she found herself returning it.
It occurred to her that she had some time or another seen some one like this stranger, but when or where she could not imagine.
Still he did not speak, but his eyes were very tender and kind as they rested on her so that she wondered a little.
“Yes?” she said inquiringly. “Yes?”
“Don't you know me, Ella?” he said then, very softly, and in a voice that she recognized instantly.
“Is it you—you?” she breathed.
Instinctively she lifted her hands to greet him, and at once she found herself caught up and held, pressed passionately to his strongly-beating heart.
An hour later, by the fire in the sitting-room, Ella suddenly remembered tea.
“Good gracious! You must be starving,” she cried, smitten with remorse. “And there's poor mother waiting upstairs all this time. Oh, Rupert, are you very hungry?”