"I promise, no matter how much I suffer, I won't give in." He clasped her into his arms, and kissed her passionately. A sudden wave of color surged over her face, and she drew herself away, with downcast eyes. He watched her anxiously, holding her hand. Then he persuaded her to sit down beside him on the moss-grown trunk. "A little sleeping soul has been given my into my care," he thought, smoothing her hair gently. "I must cherish it until it wakes. After waiting—after infinite patience—her love, when given, will be all the sweeter. I shall prize it more than if it had been easily won. We must wait for the most precious things in life. That is the supreme lesson to learn—how to wait—so we shall be worthy of life's golden gift, when it comes. It must come—the very power of my own love for her—the very force of my will, must bring it. Life owes it to me—her love." He touched his lips to her hair.
"Now, let's go and tell the folks," said Indiana.
CHAPTER XIII.
England.
"Jennings!"
"Yes, yer leddyship!"
"I thought I heard carriage wheels."
"Not yet, yer leddyship."
Lady Canning sighed, and Jennings sank stiffly on his knees and poked the fire, as he had done innumerable times within the hour.
"Her leddyship will be ill," he mumbled to himself over the fire. "It's a terrible strain for her leddyship."