Hope had been there for some weeks past with Madame Roskova to keep her company. But the moment Madame heard of Paul's coming she signified her intention of returning to Marya Verskaïa up the valley. "And, my dear," she said, with impressive kindliness, to Hope, "I do hope you will be happier together than you were, and will live together as God meant you to do when He joined your lives." And this time Hope did not ask her to stop. CHAPTER XIX HOW HOPE IMPOSED HER WILL UPON HIM As Paul sat before the stove and watched Hope prepare his supper, that first night of his return, his whole being ached for her. But it was so much to have her love, and to have her there, that he would ask no more till--till he could wait no longer. After supper she flitted to and fro on her household duties like a bird in its tiny cage, and there seemed no end to the things she had to do, though what might be the necessity for them all he could not tell, nor could she have told if he had asked her. He sat quietly smoking for a time and watched her through the smoke. Then he laid aside his pipe and caught her as she passed one time, and drew her to his knee, and she felt the strong arm round her waist throbbing furiously. She had been vaguely nervous of she knew not what, and had been making work to postpone its coming. But she knew, as she lay in his arms and looked up into the restrained eagerness of his face and the lovelight in his dark eyes, that she was queen, and that her slightest wish would be his law. And as she lay there, and the tension of her nerves slackened, she laughed softly to herself, and he looked at her in surprise. "What are you laughing at? My foolishness? I count it wisdom." "It was at my own," she said. "I was a little bit afraid of you, Paul." "That you shall never be. I am yours to command as long as life lasts. Whatever you wish shall be." She lay silent again in his arms and then said softly-- "We will wait one month more--and then----" "Then?" "Then----" and she drew down his head and kissed him warmly on the lips. CHAPTER XX HOW THE TIME CAME TO AN END Thirty little days to the crowning of their lives. Since Hope last saw her husband a thousand long days had passed, wearily and full of sorrows. Since Paul last saw his friend, two-thirds as many. And the only news they had had of him in all that time had been reports of his death. Yet, to both of them, these thirty days seemed freighted with all possibilities. It was no mere whim or wish to feel her power which had dictated Hope's decision to wait this one month more.