“Darling,” he said, “I can go farther than you have asked. From the first minute my eyes rested upon your face under that mist of white veil I wished with all my heart that I might have known you before any other man had found and won you. When you turned and looked at me with that deep sorrow in your eyes, you pledged me with every fibre of my being to fight for you. I was yours from that instant. And when your little hand was laid in mine, my heart went out in longing to have it stay in mine forever. I know now, as I did not understand then, that the real reason for my not doing something to make known my identity at that instant was not because I was afraid of any of the things that might happen, or any scene I might make, but because my heart was fighting for the right to keep what had been given me out of the unknown. You are my wife, by every law of heaven and earth, if your heart will but say yes. I love you, as I never knew a man could love, and yet if you do not want to stay with me I will set you free; but it is true that I should never be the same, for I am married to you in my heart, and always shall be. Darling, look up and answer my question now.” He stood before her with outstretched arms, and for answer she rose and came to him slowly, with downcast eyes. “I do not want to be set free,” she said. Then gently, tenderly, he folded his arms about her, as if she were too precious to handle roughly, and laid his lips upon hers. It was the shrill, insistent clang of the telephone bell that broke in upon their bliss. For a moment Gordon let it ring, but its merciless clatter was not to be denied; so, drawing Celia close within his arm, he made her come with him to the ’phone. To his annoyance, the haughty voice of Miss Bentley answered him from the little black distance of the ’phone. His arm was about Celia, and she felt his whole body stiffen with formality. “Oh, Miss Bentley! Good-morning! Your message? Why no! Ah! Well, I have but just come in----” A pause during which Celia, panic-stricken, handed him the paper on which she had written Julia’s message.