“I’ll see her at once and plead my case as best I may.”
His grim tone was not exactly encouraging. Cicely, however, nothing daunted, put both her hands upon his shoulders, smiling at him.
“I know,” he said, smiling back at her.
“What do you know?”
“You are about to ask me to leave your mother to you.”
“What a clever man! Frighteningly so. Yes; I have a little plan. How much do you love me, Harry?”
The name slipped from her so easily that he guessed how often it must have been in her thoughts.
“Ah! How much? I came back here, against my judgment, my pride, everything, because I loved you so desperately.”
She exclaimed joyfully:
“That is how a girl wants to be loved. I am ever so proud that you love me like that.”