“By all means; it is high time you were indoors,” Valentine said, coldly. “Do you know it is nearly nine o’clock?”
“Is it? I dare say, I lost all count of time down there. What—what are you going to do, Val?” the girl added, hurriedly, as he stepped over to her and picked her up as though she had been a child.
“I am going to carry you,” Valentine said, coolly; then he laughed and looked down at her. “At last I am your master,” he said, and he held her small form closer in his arms.
“What do you mean by that?” Polly’s voice sounded very low indeed.
“I dare say you know what I mean quite well. If you don’t, I will explain it to you to-morrow. To-night the only explanation you can have is supper and bed.”
He moved on briskly up the remaining portion of the beach till the parade was reached. There Polly stopped him.
“Put me down,” she commanded. “If you are my master it is your duty to obey me.”
At this they both laughed, and the laugh seemed to free something in the hearts of both.
Though the rain was falling, and the hour was growing later and later, they made no haste to reach Mrs. Blaine’s hospitable door.
“I am going to ask you a question, Polly. Will you answer it?”