Mr. Gibbs glanced up. The voice fell like the voice of a magician on his ear. He rose to his feet, all trembling. In the doorway was standing the other Nelly--the false, and yet the true one. The Nelly of his imagination. The Nelly to whom he was to have been married that day. He went to her with a sudden cry.
"Nelly!"
"Tom!" She shrank away. But in spite of her shrinking, he took her in his arms.
"My own, own darling."
"Tom," she moaned, "don't you understand--I'm not Nelly!"
"I know it, and I thank God, my darling, you are not."
"Tom! What do you mean?"
"I mean that I have found Nelly, and I mean that, thank Heaven! I have found you too--never, my darling, please Heaven! to lose sight of you again."
They had only just time to withdraw from a too suspicious neighbourhood, before the door opened again to admit Mrs. Morgan.
"Tom, this is our new lodger. I just asked her if she'd mind stepping downstairs while I tidied up her room a bit. Miss Reeves, this is an old sweetheart of mine--Mr. Gibbs."