"Oh--h--h! So you've come at last, my lord! Let me look at you, to make sure that it is you. Oh, Rodney, why have you been so long in coming?"
She put her arms about his neck and drew him down to her and kissed him. He said, softly:
"I do believe you have grown shorter."
"You wretch! To let a thing like that be your first word to me!"
"It's such a long way down, though it's well worth stooping for."
He kissed her again, tenderly, on her pretty lips--he was an expert in the art of kissing. Because he did it so well, she, not knowing that such skill came of practice, had him kiss her again and again and again, till the breath had half gone out of her body and she was all rapturous palpitation.
"If you only knew what ages it seems since I saw you!"
"Stella, what do you think it has seemed to me? If you only knew what I have gone through!"
"Poor boy! I suppose you have had to bear a good deal."
"You have no notion what I've had to bear."