CHAPTER VI

“Dion! Is it you at last?”

A warm voice called from above, and the blood rushed to his temples.

“Yes.”

It seemed to him that he took the old staircase in his stride, and he had a feeling almost such as a man has when he is going into action.

“Rose!”

He held her in his arms and kissed her.

“It’s—seemed a long time!”

He felt moisture springing to his eyes. The love he felt for her almost overwhelmed his self-control. Till this moment he had never known how great it was. All his deprivation was in that embrace.

“Years it’s seemed!” he said, letting her go with a little laugh, summoned up—he did not know how—to save him from too much emotion.