“Well, Martin! Congratulations! I just got your letter this morning. I didn’t expect you to follow so soon. So it’s Inspector Stonor now, eh? Very becoming uniform, sir! Was the examination difficult? You must tell me all about it. I suppose you are just off the train. What kind of a trip did you have? Sit down.”
He was a little flabbergasted by her easy flow of speech. “I don’t want to sit down,” he muttered huskily. He was staring at her from a white face.
She sat; glanced out of the window, glanced here and there about the room, and rattled on: “Haven’t we got a jolly little place here? But I expect we’ll be ordered on directly. Mary and I were talking about you the moment you rang the bell. Mary is so good to me, but her heart is already turning to Fort Enterprise and her children, I’m afraid.”
He found his tongue at last. “Clare, don’t!” he cried brokenly. “I didn’t come eight hundred miles to hear you make parlour conversation. What’s the matter? What have I done? If you’ve changed towards me tell me so plainly, and let me get out. I can’t stand this!”
Panic seized her. “I must see about lunch. Excuse me just a moment,” she said, making for the door.
He caught her as she tried to pass. “Damn lunch! Look me in the eye, woman!”
She relaxed. Her eyes crept imploringly up to his. “Bear!” she whispered. “You might at least have given me a moment’s respite!—Oh, I love you! I love you! I love you!”
THE END