“I’ve seen them both,” Clare answered with a smile. “Doesn’t this remind you of something? I’m afraid you’re careless, Dick.”
The color rushed into his face. “If you have seen those letters, you know what a suspicious fool I’ve been.”
“That doesn’t matter. You’re convinced at last?” Clare rejoined with a hint of pride.
“In a sense, I always was convinced. If I’d seen you take the wretched plans, I wouldn’t have held you accountable. Because you took them, it couldn’t have been wrong.”
Clare blushed, but looked at him with shining eyes. “I wanted to hear you say it again. But it wasn’t that letter—I mean the one about the plans—that brought me.”
Then the last of Dick’s self-control vanished and with a half conscious movement he held out his hands. Clare came forward and next moment she was in his arms.
Some time later he felt he must be practical and said in a deprecatory tone: “But you must try to understand what you are doing, dear, and the sacrifices you must make. Things aren’t quite as bad as they looked, but I can’t go home just yet and may always be a poor engineer.” He indicated the galvanized-iron shack. “You will have to live in a place like this, and though I think my eye will get better, there’s the scar on my face——”
Clare gave him a quiet smiling glance. “That doesn’t matter, Dick, and I never really had a home.” She paused and added gently: “But I shall have one now.”