He did not at once answer her. He waited till with an odd reluctance she turned her face towards him. Then, "I was thinking of you," he said.
Her heart gave a quick throb. "Of me?" she questioned below her breath.
"Of you," he said again. "For myself, I have got all I can ever hope for.
But you—you would be awfully happy, wouldn't you, if—"
"If—" murmured Avery.
He stooped again to kiss her white bosom. "And it would be a bond between us," he said, as if continuing some remark he had not uttered.
She turned more fully to him. "Do we need that?" she said.
"We might—some day," he answered, in a tone that somehow made it impossible for her to protest. "Anyhow, my darling, I knew,—I guessed. And I'm awfully glad—for your sake."
She bent towards him. "Not for your own?" she whispered pleadingly.
He laid his head suddenly down upon her knees with a sound that was almost a groan.
"Piers!" she said in distress.