"Mick!" she cried in breathless, incredulous rapture. Then she glanced quickly over the dog's red head to the hands that had lifted him to the carriage window.
"Larry!" she said below her breath.
Young Asshlin was standing in the middle of the road—red, shy, and excited.
"I want you to take him, Clo," he said awkwardly, "for a—for a wedding present."
For one instant Clodagh sat overwhelmed by the suggestion; and next her eyes unconsciously sought Milbanke's.
"May I?" she said hesitatingly. It was her first faltering acknowledgment that her actions were no longer quite her own.
Milbanke started.
"Oh, assuredly!" he said—"assuredly!"
And Clodagh opened the carriage door, and took Mick into her arms.
For one moment the joy of reunion submerged every other feeling; then she raised a glowing, grateful face to her cousin.