“Yes,” he replied, eagerly. “I know it will be of interest to me. Tell it, please.”
And, half shyly at first, Vinnie complied with his request. He interrupted her many times during her recital, with exclamations of surprise and wonder; and when she had finished, and sat demurely before him, with her little hands folded in her lap, and her lovely face sober and thoughtful, he said:
“Heaven be praised for your deliverance! What if you had not escaped?”
“Why, then, I suppose—” she began, surprised at his excited manner. But he cut short what she would have said, by saying, vehemently:
“If you had not, I would not now account my life worth as much as a burnt charge of powder!”
Vinnie glanced up at him quickly, but her long lashes drooped as she met his ardent look.
He arose to his feet, and standing up before her, went on in rapid, eager tones:
“I love you, Vinnie Darke, as I can never love another woman in the whole world! I ask for your love in return. Can you—will you give it to me, Vinnie darling?”
She sat silent a moment—a moment that seemed interminable to the anxious young hunter—with flushed face and downcast eyes. The next, she was clasped in his strong arms, and he pressed a tender kiss on her brow, as he said, in a low voice:
“Do you love me, Vinnie?”