Nevertheless, she put her hand in Edgar's, and he took her on his arm in triumph.
At first her steps were slow and timid; but as her feet grew more accustomed to the unusual ground, as she gained more confidence in the strong arm that held her like a bar of iron, as her youth began to assert itself in the physical pleasure of the fresh air and the gliding movement, she lost her shyness and timidity, and she found herself almost laughing—she, who never laughed and only so rarely smiled.
"You like it?" he asked, looking down on her with a man's admiration for a pretty woman marked in every line and feature.
"Yes, so much!" she answered, her usual reserved, self-centred manner for the moment lost.
"Now you will know how to trust me in future," he said not very loudly.
She looked up to him, carrying her eyes right into his. "Yes, I will," she answered simply.
At this moment Alick joined them, and Leam suddenly lost her new-found joy.
"I am glad you have come on at last," said her faithful dog, effacing himself and his disappointment with an effort.
"They made me," Leam replied.
"I hope not against your will and not to your displeasure," said Edgar, still looking down into her face with the man's admiration of a woman's beauty so strongly marked in his own.