"My dear, dear Bedelia," he murmured. "I had almost given you up. Three long days have I waited for you. You—"
"I have never broken a promise, Rex," she said coolly. "It is you who are to be commended, not I, for you see I was coming to Graustark anyway. I should not have been surprised if you had failed me, sir. It is a long way from Vienna to this out-of-the-way—"
"The most distant spot in the world would not have been too far away to cause an instant's hesitation on my part," said he, dropping into the chair opposite her. "I would go to the end of the world, Bedelia."
"But your personal affairs—your business," she protested. "Can you neglect it so—"
"My business is to find happiness," said he. "I should be neglecting it indeed if I failed to pursue the only means of attaining it. You are happiness, Bedelia."
"What would you sacrifice for happiness?" she asked softly.
"All else in the world," he replied steadily. "If I were a king, my realm should go if it stood between me and—you, Bedelia."
She drew back with a queer little gasp, as if suddenly breathless.
"Wait—wait just for a moment," she said, with difficulty steadying her voice. "This night may see the end of our adventure, Rex. Let us think well before we say that it is over. I know, if you do not, that a great deal depends upon what we are to say to each other to-night. You will ask me to be your wife. Are you sure that you appreciate all that it means to you and to your future if I should say yes to that dear question?"
He looked at her intently. "What do you know, Bedelia?"