She talked in a cheery tone of irrelevant things, laughed merrily when she lost the path; and so they came back to the garden where the lights of the house confronted them. At the veranda steps he caught her suddenly in his arms.
“It can’t be like this! I’m not going to give you up! Tell me you understand that it’s only for a little while——”
“We’re not going to talk about it any more—” she said without a quaver—with even a little ring of confidence in her voice. But she suffered his kiss, yielded for a moment to his embrace.
“I’ll love you always, always, always!” she said slowly.
“I’ll love you till I die!” he replied. They stood with hands clasped for an instant, then she turned and ran into the house.
III
They had been gone more than an hour and the other members of the party stared at them as though they were intruders. Two of the men, not too befuddled by their potations to remember that they were leaving town by a midnight train, were trying to convince Kemp that it was time to go. Tommy was explaining elaborately that there were plenty of trains; that if there was anything the city was proud of it was the frequency with which trains departed for all points of the compass.
Irene in her disgust with Kemp for exceeding the limits she had fixed for his indulgence in the prized champagne had retired to the kitchen to talk to Jerry. Hearing Trenton’s voice expostulating with Tommy she appeared, and announced that she was going home. One of the girls, overcome by champagne had retired and Irene went upstairs to see what could be done to restore her.
“Ask Jerry for some black coffee, Grace, that will fix her,” said Irene.
She confided to Grace her indignation at the young woman for not behaving herself; she was disappointed in her. A girl, she declared, shouldn’t go on a party if she hadn’t any more sense than to get drunk. However, she ministered to the young woman effectively and kindly.