"Aren't you engaged to him?" said the man. "They told me——" The words tailed off, and he closed his eyes.
For a moment the girl looked at him with a great yearning tenderness on her face; then she bent over and laid a cool hand on his forehead.
"Go to sleep, Danny Drayton," she whispered. "Go to sleep."
But the name made him open his eyes again.
"I told you my name was John Marston," he insisted.
"Then I require an immediate explanation of why you called me darling," she answered.
He looked at her weakly; then with a little tired smile he gave in.
"Molly," he said, very low, "my little Molly. I've dreamed of you, dear; I don't think you've ever been out of my thoughts all these long years. Just for the moment—I am Danny; to-morrow I'll be John Marston again."
"Will you?" she whispered, and her face was very close to his. "Then there will be a scandal. For I don't see how John Marston and Mrs. Danny Drayton can possibly live together. My dear, dear man!"
Thus did the man in ratcatcher fall asleep, with the feel of her lips on his, and the touch of her hand on his forehead. And thus did two men find them a few moments later, only to tiptoe silently downstairs again, after one glance from the door.