You looked just as you did yesterday----"

"When I came back to you out of the mists of death!"

She gave a long sigh. "How wonderful!... Of course, I did not understand the dream, or put any meaning to it. But you were speaking as you came with your eyes shut, and you said, 'She will never come back. Are you coming? No!' ... When I awoke I knew that I must go to you at once. I knew that I had lingered too long, and that there must be no more delay. But, oh, I was afraid!--I was so desperately afraid!"

He told her of the dreadful day of her return, when he had ridden to sessions in the miserable conviction that he had lost her altogether; and how Ferris had told him of her adventures with young Rosenberg.

"I got home that night absolutely convinced that it was all over," he said.

"Ah!" She turned suddenly and clung to him of her own accord. "And yesterday I thought that all was over, too. It happened so fast; yet it seemed to take years and years. I can't tell you how many thoughts I had, while you turned round from tying up my shoe.... You knew, didn't you, that the shoe was just an excuse to coax you away from the brink of the chasm?"

"I wondered."

"Yes, I could see that you wondered, and just as I was casting about in my mind to think what I could say, I heard Joey scream!... Then all in a moment, I knew what would happen. I saw your face set ... and you looked at me, just for one second, a look that seemed to set me on fire. I could have shrieked out in my desperation, but I knew I must not say a word to stop you. I knew you would go down, and that every moment was precious.... Osbert, there, in that awful cave, in those few seconds, I grew up. I saw what might be, and I saw that I was going to lose it. I felt as if all my life I had foreseen that this was going to happen to me, and that I never would be able to tell you----"

"To tell me what?"

"Oh, just this! What I _am_ telling you!"

Thereafter, soft laughter, and more kisses.

CHAPTER x.x.x

THE ESCAPE

"_I am the most wise Baviaan, saying in most wise tones: 'Let us melt into the landscape--just us two by our lones.-- People have come in a carriage--calling!...

Here's your boots--I've brought 'em--and here's your cap and stick, And here's your pipe and tobacco. Oh, come along out of it--quick!_"--Kipling.

They were pledged to dine at the Chase that night, and had no reasonable excuse for failing to fulfil their engagement. They went accordingly, and Virginia donned for the first time bridal white satin and lace.

Osbert came in from his room when she was nearly ready, his hands full of leather cases, and proceeded to array her in what she considered a most outrageous excess of diamonds. She was loath to spoil his pleasure, and so consented to wear them, to the immense satisfaction of Grover.

When they arrived at the Chase she had to own that Osbert had been wiser than she, for although Lady St. Aukmund called it a "quite informal dinner," they found a party of twenty, including most of the county set. Their entrance was the signal for an ovation for which they had both been unprepared. Osbert's heroism was already known, it appeared, to everybody present; and the attention he received so overwhelmed him that his wife was in dread lest he should retire into his sh.e.l.l and scowl upon his admirers in what the daring girl already described as "his old, bad manner."

However, in response to her wireless telegraphy, he acquitted himself quite creditably, and found himself able not merely to endure but to glory in the chorus of congratulation which he was called upon to receive after the withdrawal of the ladies from table. Now that he knew himself to be, by some miracle of grace which he did not profess to be able to understand, in possession of Virginia's heart, he was free to exult in the praise of her loveliness and charm which was universally expressed.

But when it was over, and the car was carrying them swiftly homeward through a moonless night--when he drew her into his arms and held her there, still half-incredulous of his own bliss--his first words were:

"I say, Virgie, let us bolt--shan't we, darling?"

"Bolt?" she questioned, puzzled.

"Get away from everybody--just you and I together. Let us set out upon our honeymoon. We'll go to the Riviera--or to Rome. Would you like that?"

There was a second's pause before she replied--just time for a tiny doubt to stab him. Then she answered low: "Yes, I _should_ like it. Let us go! How strange that I should feel so! But I do!"

"Thank G.o.d!" he said with a gasp. "But quite alone, Virgie? Can you do without Grover?"

"But of course, silly! I am accustomed to do without a maid----"

"Then we'll be off, all unbeknown! I can't stand it, you know, all this act-of-heroism business. It turns me sick! And there'll be Rosenberg calling me his preserver, or some other bad name like that. We can get to London to-morrow, and I will give orders for them to dismantle the house and redecorate while we are away. Isn't that a good scheme?"

She thought it excellent, and approved so warmly that he went on glibly:

"We will buy anything we want in London, and settle a route when we are there. Caunter is quite fit to be left in charge of the place; and I had all the designs prepared by the man who did your room, so you have only to approve and they can get to work."

"If I were talking to Tony, I would say that it is ripping!"

"Then say so to me. Say anything to me. Don't, for pity's sake, be shy of me, Virgie."

"I'll try not. But you must own that you are rather formidable, are you not?"

"You ought to be punished for saying so."

"There! You see, you are still a tyrant, disguise it how you may!"

"Virgie, there is just one thing I am dying to know. May I ask?"

"You may ask; but whether I shall tell you----"

"Well, it's just this. Did Rosenberg make love to you that day you went motoring with him?"

"No, certainly not! He has never made love to me."

"Honestly, my sweet, he does admire you?"

"I used to think so. He tried to make me think that he was heart-broken the first time we met in Queen Anne Street. But nothing more than that."

"He seems to have managed very badly."

"He managed so badly that I felt more vexed with him than I could have thought possible. He had no right to be so careless of me that day at Bignor. I was in his charge and he put me in a very uncomfortable position. I have not forgiven him. I don't feel the same towards him as I did."

Her voice was quietly judicial, her manner wholly natural. Gaunt could not but realise that here was no rival to be feared.

"You liked him once, though?" he went on, to make himself doubly sure.

"What--before I was married? Yes, I suppose I did. I thought I did. It was just a delightful experience to feel that he thought me pretty. By the way, do you think me pretty, Osbert?"

"No."

"I thought not. But I am, you know."

"Little peac.o.c.k! You should have heard what everybody was saying of you when you went out of the dining-room to-night! These absurd ears must have been quite hot! How stunning you looked in the diamonds! I am glad I made you wear them.... It is a curious thing that, since I first saw you, you have altered completely. I used to think you were like your mother, and now----"