But as the last word left her lips there came a loud, impatient double knock upon the door, making both spring up in surprise and alarm.
"Oh-h!" cried Geraldine.
"Oh-h!" echoed Cissy.
Then they smiled at each other in the deepening gloom, and Geraldine exclaimed:
"How that knock startled me! But, of course, it's Harry at last."
He was Harry to her now, her darling, and how sweet the name sounded from her rosy lips.
"Of course it is Harry. Run to the door, dear," returned Cissy, secretly glad of an interruption to the story she had promised to relate to her friend.
All in a moment she had repented it, and wished to keep the secret still.
So she was glad of the opportune interruption.
"Run to the door, dear. Do not keep him waiting," she urged, and Geraldine flew blithely to open the door for her lover, as she had done a dozen times before that day, meeting each time, as she did now—blank disappointment.