She pretended not to understand him, and again, and in a more emphatic voice, he demanded,
"When?"
She was compelled to comprehend at last, and said that if all went well, and he behaved himself, and her father approved, a month that day, perhaps .... no, two months....
"Done!"
A few minutes later they were in the porch for their last parting. He was holding her in a long embrace. He felt like Jacob who had waited so long for Rachel. He would never be entirely happy until she was wholly his.
She laughed—a nervous and palpitating laugh.
"Rachel indeed? Take care it isn't Leah in the morning, Sir."
But seeing the cloud that crossed his face at that word, she kissed him of herself, saying they belonged to each other already and nothing could ever separate them.
"Nothing?"
"Nothing!"