For an instant he stood like a man turned to stone, then he turned deliberately, and crushed her in his arms.
For a long moment their lips clung together, and it seemed to Marie that in that kiss, Feathers gave her his heart and himself and all that he had—forever. When he released her and she sank back, trembling and faint, she heard his hoarse "God bless you" as if in a dream, and presently he was beside her, driving slowly back through the mist and darkness.
She only spoke to him once to say:
"Supposing—supposing they won't have me at home any more?"
The blood rushed to his face.
"We won't suppose anything so impossible," he said, but a fierce exultation passed through him; for if such a thing were to happen, he knew that she would be his in very truth.
CHAPTER XXIII
"And if I die first, shall death be then
A lonesome watchtower whence I see you weep?"