Norval frowned.
"Shall I come to you, dear man?"
Oh! how she lured and tempted from her safe, innocent love. "I trust you now. I beg your pardon because I once did not. I will come half the way."
"My sweet, when I take you in my arms to tell you the story I mean to tell you, I will come all the way! Now stir the syrup, you hard little bargainer. Throw in an extra handful of nuts for the crimes you commit but know not of."
"And now you are laughing!" cried Donelle.
"Far from it, I'm thinking of swearing."
"At what?" Donelle was cracking the nuts.
"At the absolute stupidity of——Good Lord, child"—Norval sprang toward her—"your skirt was on fire! He crushed the sparks and held her for a moment.
"If anything happened to you," he muttered.
"What would you do?" Donelle trembled a little in his arms.