"Yes," she answered after a moment, softly, securely. He crushed
her in his strong arms; all the world seemed to have closed in
about her. Her eyes, suffused with happiness, looked sweetly into
his until she closed them with the coming of the first kiss. "I
love you--oh, I love you!" she whispered.
"I worship you, Jane!" he responded. "I have always worshipped
you!"
It was all so natural, so normal. The love that had been silent from
the first had spoken, that was all--had put into words its untold
story.
"Jane, I am the proudest being in the world!" he said, neither knew
how long afterward, for neither thought of time. They were sitting
on the couch in the corner, their turbulent hearts at rest. "To
think, after all, that such a beautiful being as you can be mine
forever! It's--why, it's inconceivable!"
"You were sure of me all the time, Graydon," she remonstrated. "I
tried to hide it, but I couldn't. You must have thought me a perfect
fool all these months."
"You are very much mistaken, if you please. You did hide it so
successfully at times, that I was sick with uncertainty."
"Well, it's all over now," she smiled, and he sighed with a great
relief.
"All over but the--the wedding," he said.
"Oh, that's a long way off. Let's not worry over that, Graydon."
"A long way off? Nonsense! I won't wait."
"Won't?"
"I should have said can't. Let's see; this is February. March,
dearest?"
"Graydon, you are so much younger than I thought. A girl simply
cannot be hurried through a--an engagement. Next winter."
"Next what? That's nearly a year, Jane. It's absurd! I'm ready."
"I know. It's mighty noble of you, too. But I just can't, dearest.
No one ever docs."
"Don't--don't you think I'm prepared to take care of you?" he said,
straightening up a bit.
She looked at his strong figure and into his earnest eyes and
laughed, so adorably, that his resentment was only passing.
"I can't give you a home like this," he explained; "but you know
I'll give you the best I have all my life."
"You can't help succeeding, Graydon," she said earnestly. "Everyone
says that of you. I'm not afraid. I'm not thinking of that. It
isn't the house I care for. It's the home. You must let me choose
the day."
"I suppose it's customary," he said at last. "June is the month
for brides, let me remind you."
"Before you came this evening I had decided on January next, but
now I am willing to---"
"Oh, you decided before I came, eh?" laughingly.
"Certainly," she said unblushingly. "Just as you had decided on the
early spring. But, listen, dear, I am willing to say September of
this year."
"One, two, three--seven months. They seem like years, Jane. You
won't say June?"
"Please, please let me have some of the perquisites," she pleaded.
"It hasn't seemed at all like a proposal. I've really been cheated
of that, you must remember, dear. Let me say, at least, as they
all do, that I'll give you an answer in three days."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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