It was plain that
for some reason Bertie was hugely amused, and she thought it rather
heartless of him.
She dined alone on the house-boat with her face to the river. Her fright
had made her somewhat nervous, and she was inclined to start at every
sound. When the meal was over she went up to her favourite retreat on the
upper deck. A golden twilight still lingered in the air, and the river
was mysteriously calm. But the girl's heart was full of a heavy
restlessness. Each time she heard a punt-pole striking on the bed of the
river she raised her head to look.
He came at last--the man for whom her heart waited. He was punting
rapidly down-stream, and she could not see his face. Yet she knew him,
by the swing of his arms, the goodly strength of his muscles,--and by the
suffocating beating of her heart. She saw that one hand was bandaged, and
a passionate feeling that was almost rapture thrilled through and through
her at the sight. Then he shot beyond her vision, and she heard the punt
bump against the house-boat.
"It's a gentleman to see you, miss," said the Badger, thrusting a grey
and grinning visage up the stairs.
"Ask him to come up!" said Hilary, steadying her voice with an effort.
A moment later she rose to receive the man she loved. And her heart
suddenly ceased to beat.
"You!" she gasped, in a choked whisper.
He came straight forward.
Pages:
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256