She moved unsteadily to a chair and sank down, her face in her hands. It had been such tragedy to her! And now it was taking all her self-control to hold herself firmly in hand under the reaction. At once he was beside her, dropping upon one knee and trying to take her hands from her face. “What is it, Rhoda? What is the matter? Look at me, dearest!”
“Yes, Jeff—let me realize—wait—one moment!” He watched her anxiously, her hands in his, as with a deep, long breath, a tension of the muscles and a pressing together of her lips she regained control of herself. She withdrew her hands and slowly lifted her face as he rose to his feet.
“It’s nothing, Jeff—no, I don’t mean that—it is so much. But—I thought—Charlotte led me to think that—she was going to marry you—and now—to find that you’re not—that you still—” She stopped and half turned away her face, trying to hide the confession she knew was there of all it meant to find that his love was still her own. But already he had seen enough to set his heart on fire and he sprang toward her, as if to take her in his arms.
“And you cared so much? Rhoda, deny me no longer!”
She drew away from him and said humbly: “Can you forgive me, Jeff? Indeed, I would not have thought it possible, but it seemed to have happened. It was just one of Charlotte’s tricks.”
“Forgive you, dear heart? I do not think you could do anything that I would not forgive!”
Her glance swept the room. Then she looked up at him with a smile and said significantly, “Even this?”
“Even this, Rhoda, else I would not be here. I held out against the pleading of my heart as long as I could. But I longed so much to see you and wanted so much to help you, that I couldn’t stay away any longer. I’ve come, dear, to beg you once more to be my wife. Let me give you, at once, the protection of my name—”
She drew back and lifted her head proudly. “I have already the protection of my father’s name and the approval of my conscience. I should feel myself a coward, and a traitor to myself, if I tried to crawl under any other now.”
“I understand what you mean—and I beg your pardon. But we both know now, more surely than we knew before, how necessary we are to each other, how deep and true and everlasting our love is. Don’t you realize that neither of us can ever be happy until we have joined our lives together? What are the days and the weeks for us now but just a constant yearning for each other’s presence. Look forward, Rhoda, to months and years of that, think of how much more life will mean for us both, if only you will give up and listen to what your heart tells you.”