“Oh, Garde!” he whispered.
She stopped and came fluttering back to meet him. He had let himself in at the gate with one quick movement. He took her home to his arms and held her in breathless joy against his throbbing heart. With love in her eyes her face was turned upward to his own.
“My Adam!” she said, with all the fervor of her nature.
“My love! My darling!” he responded.
He kissed her again. It was a warm, sweet kiss that brought their very souls to their lips. Then he dropped down on his knee and kissed her hands and pressed their fragrant palms against his face.
“My love!” he said. “My own love!”
She nestled in his arms yet once again. She gave him the one more kiss that burned on her lips to be taken, and then she fled swiftly to the house.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE ENEMY IN POWER.
Adam found his faithful beef-eaters on the verge of the grave. The miserable old rogues had no better sense than to be pining to death like two masterless dogs. They had been ill enough, in all conscience, and even somewhat mentally disordered, but there had been no sufficient grounds for the pair to believe themselves abandoned by their “Sachem,” and there had been absolutely no excuse for them to refuse to eat.