He laughed. "That's worse than ever! You've got to keep your heart intact—for me."
His eyes travelled from her face to her unadorned left hand. Hers followed them; and a half smile parted her lips.
"Where d'you keep them?" he asked under his breath.
Still smiling, she unfastened two buttons of her habit and vouchsafed him a glimpse of gold and diamonds. "They live on a chain—in there," she explained softly.
"You have worn them, then, after a fashion?"
"Yes: since I learnt to love—my bondage!"
"Did you really never wish that I might be conveniently wiped out, even in the early days?"
"No, never:—and I am thankful now that I can say 'No' with perfect truth."
She drew in a long breath of ecstasy. The morning cheerfulness of the world at large, the music of her own pulses, and of the man's voice, vibrant with things inexpressible, filled her with a very oppression of happiness.
"Oh, Eldred," she breathed. "It still feels like a dream. Let's talk sheer prose just to make it feel real!—Are you and the Desmonds riding back with Colonel and Miss Mayhew?"