“Hilda! I love you!”
“Oh, do you? Then—then—that Nanna—”
“Nanna is seventy-four. My old nurse, Hilda. When I returned from—Germany—I was a prisoner there nine months, Hilda—Nanna was the only one at home who knew me. You see—you see—it was better that they shouldn’t know me. M-m-my brother was in my place. And you see, Hilda, I c-came out here, and N-Nanna planned to f-follow me. She is seventy-four.”
“Seventy-four! Oh, I thought—I thought—that picture in the locket——”
“That was Sybil—now my brother’s wife.”
Wonderful things were happening to Hilda. She wanted to laugh; she wanted to cry, and the pink cheek wavered from him, and then came to rest against his rough sleeve. Cheerio never even glanced back to see if Sandy were at hand. He placed his arm completely and competently around Hilda’s waist. Their lips were very close. This time it was Hilda who whispered the words, and Cheerio bent so close to hear them that his lips came upon her own.
“Oh, I loved you all the time!” said Hilda McPherson.
At this juncture, they stopped walking, for one may not kiss as satisfactorily while moving along.
When Hilda regained her power of speech, she said:
“I’m never going to say another unkind thing to you.”