“Why?” asked he, startled.
“Because then perhaps you might do what you did long ago, fling all considerations of business and duty to the winds and jump into the train with me.”
“Do you think my love was better worth having then than now?” he asked softly.
“N-o, perhaps not. Still I wish the wife had as much influence as the girl had.”
If the train had been in the station, she in it, and he at the door, these words would have carried him off. As it was, standing on the platform beside her, Harry was seized with a great trembling, and, walking away from her a few steps, he came back and said to her, low and reproachfully:
“That is the first time you have ever tempted me to what was not right, Annie. If the train had been here, your words would have made me jump in, and, for the first time since I have had work to do, I should have neglected it—and through you. I have a lot to see to at the stables this morning, and an appointment to keep with Captain King before I go up to town. But I can’t resist you; so, if you love me, Annie, and if you care for what people think of me and say of me, don’t ask me again, my darling, for I can’t say ‘No’ to you.”
The young wife, self-possessed and independent as she usually was, hung her head. These words of his, inspiring in her a strong feeling of respect, did much to restore her confidence in his self-command when dealing with his treacherous cousin. As she took the rebuke silently, Harry began to be alarmed at the effect he had produced.
“You are not angry with me, are you, darling? You look as if I had been scolding you, as if we had changed places.”
“Changed places, Harry!” cried she, looking up in astonishment.
She had already forgotten the long period during which she had looked upon her husband as a tiresome, unreasonable child.