She did not answer a word; she was dazed with happiness, weak with despair. He was by her side again, her loved and lost.
He took up the reins and drove out of the park as fast as he could, followed by the admiring glances of the crowd, who, now that Eva was safe, began to wonder what had befallen Reginald Hamilton in the mad race of his frightened team.
As for Eva, she had forgotten all about her rejected lover in the surprised and painful joy of Doctor Ludington’s reappearance in her life, just as if he had dropped down from the skies in the nick of time to her assistance.
She was obliged to lean against him as he had bidden her, for her head was too dizzy to hold upright, and, as it rested heavily against his shoulder, a delicious thrill of unconquerable joy went through her at contact with him again.
She could no more help loving him, and thrilling in his presence, than she could help breathing.
She felt an insane desire to throw her arms about him and rest her weary head on his breast, sobbing out repentantly:
“Oh, love me, love me, love me! I cannot live without you! I was mad when I sent you away!”
But the spectres of her dead cousin and her old grandfather came coldly between these passionate yearnings and stayed the wild impulse of love, murmuring menacingly:
“Between your hearts there is a great cloud.”
She shuddered as with fear, and he felt in her nearness the thrill that shook her graceful form. Turning his face toward her for a moment, he said coldly: