“No, but I want it fixed and then it's fixed—and they can say what they please. Marry me tonight! You've got the ring. You're going to in a little while, anyhow. What's the use to wait and lose these days out of our life? What's the sense of it? Don't you know me by this time? Don't you trust me by this time?”
She slipped her hand gently into his.
“I trust you utterly. And I feel that I've known you since the day I was born——”
“Then why—why wait a minute?”
“You can't understand a girl's feelings, dear—only a little while and it's all right.”
He sat down on the couch in silence, rose and walked to the window. She watched him struggling with deep emotion.
He turned suddenly.
“Look here, Kiddo, I've got to leave on that trip to the mountains of North Carolina. I've got to get down there before Christmas. I must be back here by the first of the year. Gee—I can't go without you! You don't want to stay here without me, do you?”
A sudden pallor overspread her face. For the first time she realized how their lives had become one in the sweet intimacy of the past ten days.
“You must go now?” she gasped.