Holding the hand she had given him, he drew her behind the deck-house masterfully, and looked down on her with a little smile.
"I almost think you are pleased to see me back," he said.
"Ah!" said Jacinta, "if you only knew what the past few weeks have cost me."
Austin, laying both hands on her shoulders, stooped and kissed her twice. "That was worth going to Africa for, and if Jefferson had only bought the Cumbria sooner I would have ventured to do as much ever so long ago."
There was apparently nobody else on that side of the deck-house, and Jacinta, who did not shake his grasp off, looked up at him with shining eyes.
"You are quite sure of that?" she said.
"The wish to do so was almost irresistible the first time I saw you. It has been growing stronger ever since."
Jacinta laughed softly, though the crimson was in her cheeks. "Still, you would have mastered it. You were always discreet, you know, and that was why at last I—who have hitherto told all my friends what they ought to do—had to let some one else make it clear how much I wanted you. Now, you are going to think very little of me after that?"
"My dear," said Austin, "you know there was only one thing which could have kept me away from you."
"As if that mattered," and Jacinta laughed scornfully. "Now, stoop a little, though, perhaps, I shouldn't tell you, and if you hadn't gone to Africa, of course, I shouldn't have done it. I knew when you went away how badly I wanted you—and I would have done anything to bring you back, however much it cost me."