"Yes!"
"If for a little while we left the world behind us and went away—to know—all?"
"We should be happier then, always…. But I cannot ask it."
"It would be better so," she whispered dreamily. "I will go!"
Her hands clasped about him and her lips trembled.
"We will take our life!" She smiled as the vision of joy—food for a lifetime—filled her heart. "For a few hours I will be yours, all yours."
Thus, there beside the grumbling sea, these two—full man and woman, having weighed the issues of this life, the complex threads of soul and body, obligation and right, willed that they would take to themselves out of all eternity a few days, a few nights, a few mornings and a few evenings,—entire hours to be theirs, from which must be born courage for the future.
* * * * *
Old Mrs. Pole looked up at the sound of Margaret's step. The younger woman's face was pale, but still radiant with a complete joy. She patted the old lady's cheek and glanced down at the magazine in her lap. Between these two there was a depth of unspoken sympathy.
"Found a good story, mother dear?" Margaret asked.