He nodded, gazing steadily at her.
“I’m all right now.”
“Oh,” she said with a long, shivering breath, and hid her face on his shoulder. Presently she fell to kissing his hand, holding it tight when he strove to draw it away. Then she went on in a smothered tone, with a little pause between each sentence,
“I got here at ten o’clock. I thought you’d never come home. Of course, I knew you were at the Callenders’. I went to work and cleared up the butler’s pantry, or I couldn’t have slept here! The house is in a dreadful condition.”
“Yes. Don’t you care.”
“I don’t. I’ll have an army here cleaning to-morrow. But oh, Brookton—” she broke off suddenly—“don’t send me away again!” There was a new, passionate ring in her voice. “Never send me away again. I’ve been wild, wild, wild for you! Promise never to send me away again. Let me stay with you always—whatever happens—like this—until we die!” A sob caught her by the throat.
The strong and tender clasp of his arms answered her—her trembling ceased. After a silence, he said gently,
“I’m going downstairs now to lock up.”
She rose, flushing under his smiling eyes as he held her off at arm’s length to say,
“It seems to me you’ve reached a high pitch of romance after seven years, Mrs. Rivers!”