"I will, if you wish it," whispered Myra; "but I never, in my whole life, felt so strong or so rested. Jim, I shall sit at your table, and pour out your coffee at breakfast. Let's aim to have it at nine, as usual. It will be such fun to watch the Murgatroyds, and to remember our cheese and beer. If you are down first, order our breakfasts at the same table." "All right," said Jim Airth. Myra commenced mounting the stairs, but turned on the fifth step and hung over the banisters to smile at him. Jim Airth reached up his hand. "How can I let you go?" he exclaimed suddenly. Myra leaned over, and smiled into his adoring eyes. "How can I go?" she whispered, tenderly. Jim Airth took both her hands in his. His eyes blazed up into hers. "Myra," he said, "when shall we be married?" Myra's face flamed, just as the soft white clouds had flamed when the sun arose. But she met the fire of his eyes without flinching. "When you will, Jim," she answered gently. "As soon as possible, then," said Jim Airth, eagerly. Myra withdrew her hands, and mounted two more steps; then turned to bend and whisper: "Why?" "Because," replied Jim Airth, "I do not know how to bear that there should be a day, or an hour, or a minute, when we cannot be together." "Ah, do you feel that, too?" whispered Myra. "Too?" cried Jim Airth. "Do _you_--Myra! Come back!" But Lady Ingleby fled up the stairs like a hare. She had not run so fast since she was a little child of ten. He heard her happy laugh, and the closing of her door. Then he unbarred the front entrance; and stepping out, stood in the sunshine, on the path where he had seen his Fairy-land Princess arrive. He stretched his arms over his head. "Mine!" he said. "Mine, altogether! Oh, my God! At last, I have won the Highest!" Then he raced down the street to the beach; and five minutes later, in the full strength of his vigorous manhood, he was swimming up the golden path, towards the rising sun. CHAPTER XIV GOLDEN DAYS The week which followed was one of ideal joy and holiday. Both knew, instinctively, that no after days could ever be quite as these first days. They were an experience which came not again, and must be realised and enjoyed with whole-hearted completeness. At first Jim Airth talked with determination of a special licence, and pleaded for no delay. But Lady Ingleby, usually vague to a degree on all questions of law or matters of business, fortunately felt doubtful as to whether it would be wise to be married in a name other than her own; and, though she might have solved the difficulty by at once revealing her identity to Jim Airth, she was anxious to choose her own time and place for this revelation, and had set her heart upon making it amid the surroundings of her own beautiful home at Shenstone.