He held her close, without speaking; then he murmured: "And knowing how doesn't make you afraid?"
"It's the only thing that doesn't," said Stella, lifting her eyes to his.
The taxi stopped before the door of the town hall.
"And have I got to let you go now?" Julian asked gently.
"I shall never really go," Stella explained; "but you can let me get out and tidy up the surveyor's papers, and then be free for you to-morrow."
Julian opened the door for her. She stood for a moment under the arc of light beneath the lamp-post looking back at him.
The love between them held them like a cord. Julian had never felt so little aware of his helplessness; but he wondered, as he gazed into her eyes, if Stella realized the bitterness of all that they had lost.
She neither stirred nor spoke. She held his eyes without faltering; she gave him back knowledge for knowledge, love for love; and still there was no bitterness. At last he knew that she had seen all that was in his heart; and then for a moment, if but for a moment, Julian forgot what they had lost; he remembered only what they had found.