His arms closed round her in a second. "You mean—" he said, under his breath.
"Yes, Dick," she answered bravely, "I do mean. Dear boy, don't ever look like that again! You have hurt me horribly."
Derrick turned her face up to his own and kissed her repeatedly and passionately.
"You shall never regret it, my darling," he said. "You have turned my world into a paradise. I will do the same for yours."
"It doesn't take much to make me happy," Averil said, leaning her forehead against his shoulder. "I hope you will be a kind master, Dick, and let me have my own way sometimes."
"Master?" scoffed Derrick, kissing her hair. "You know you can lead me by the nose from world's end to world's end."
"I wonder," said Averil, with a little sigh. "Do you know, Dick, I'm not quite sure of that."
"What!" said Derrick softly. "Not—quite—sure!"
"Not when you look as you did thirty seconds ago," Averil explained. "Never mind, dear old boy! I'm glad you can look like that, though, mind, you must never, never do it again if you live to be a hundred."
She looked up at him suddenly and clasped her hands behind his neck. "You do love me, don't you, Dick?" she said.