"You could build a little workroom in the top of our house—our house, dear boy; and you could sit there and invent wonderful things to make other men safe who go up in the air, and I could watch you do it."
"But why should I be shut up, dearest? I'm not made for that sort of thing. I'd rather be out—in the open."
There was a note of alarm in his voice. Bettina tried to laugh naturally. "Because I'd rather have you with me, you venturesome youth—then I should know you were safe."
"If anything could hold me down it would be you,—Betty."
She was silent for a moment, then she said, with hesitation, "Justin, dear——"
"Yes?"
"I don't want to wait until you are well—to be married——"
As he turned on her his puzzled glance the color flooded her face. "Perhaps it isn't usual for a woman to say—such a thing. Perhaps I shouldn't say it. But—I want to feel that I belong to you—I want to know that I have the right to be always at your side. I want to know that—where you go—I can go—Justin——"
The bandages were still on his hands and arms, those hands which yearned to take her hands, those arms which ached to enfold her.
But his eyes held a look which was a caress. "But it would not be fair to you, sweetheart,—to spend your honeymoon in nursing me."