'Yes, I've come back, Joy he said hoarsely.
'And with the true light in eyes.'
'With my soul full of love for you, my Joy.'
'And the other?'
'There is no other! There never was another! There was a childish waywardness, a summer madness—God knows what! But I know now Joy, that you are mistress and master of me, that without you I am worthless. I want you, my darling.'
'You have me!—you have me, Jim! Every beat of the heart of me!'
She pressed her face to his, and their first kiss had not the rapture of that kiss. In it mingled the old sweet emotions, and new ones born of sorrow that were sweeter still.
'I only understood one side of my love for you,' he said presently. 'I had to be taught the rest in a hard school.'
'I knew you would come back to me, sooner or later. You have come soon.'
'You knew?' He looked at her wonderingly for a moment, but the surprise passed. It only seemed strange that he had not recognised all along how inevitable was his return. 'Now that I have come I go no more,' he said. 'I cannot spare you from my side. I want the ties. I would clamp you to my heart with iron if I could.'