“I believe you can do anything you want,” said Bertram.
“All but a few things.”
“What are those?”
She shook her head and smiled, and kept her secret.
So they talked until two o’clock. Then Janet put her head on one side, listening to the distant boom of Big Ben across the river.
“Mercy me! Two o’clock of a May morning and I promised to be at St. Dunstan’s at ten!”
She pointed to the sofa, and said, “If you’re sleepy, sleep. I go in there, to my virtuous couch.”
Bertram rose, and took hold of her hands and spoke with emotion.
“You’ve saved me to-night. You’ve given me courage again. You’ve been the best of comrades.”
He drew her hands towards him, and would have kissed her, but she said “Not to-night! . . . After midnight I take no risks.”