"I want you to tell me again that you love me."
"I love you, little donkey."
Elspeth threw her arms round his neck, and brought his lips down to her own.
"I am a donkey--all the same, I am a woman who wants to be loved. I _am_ loved," this triumphantly, "but oh, how delicious it is to love and to be loved, Angus."
"Elspeth!"
They clasped hands and looked deep into one another's eyes; then the reaction came and both burst out laughing.
"We are like a couple of children," said Herries, smiling, "merry children."
"Why not? We have been sad for so long."
"And foolish children."
"Ah, my own, we have been too wise in the misery of the world. Look at your years of sorrow; look at my years of trouble. We have both been unlucky."