A long silence fell between them.
"Well, dear heart?" she demanded finally.
"I wasn't thinking of that," he replied slowly. "I was just trying to estimate how much more I love you this minute than I did five minutes ago."
He drew her golden head down on his shoulder and held her to him a long time without speaking. It was Nan who broke the spell by saying:
"When the time comes for my vindication, I shall ask you to attend to it for me, dear. You're my man—and I think it's a man's task."
His great fingers opened and closed in a clutching movement. He nodded.
XVII
When Donald returned to The Dreamerie about eleven o'clock, he was agreeably surprised to find his father in the living-room.