第17章

Her eyes drooped under his passionate gaze, and the tears slowly stole down her cheeks.Her hour of life had struck! So suddenly, so utterlyunexpectedly, it rang a thunderbolt from the clear sky."You will, won't you?" he pleaded.

She smiled at him through her tears and slowly said: "I can't say yes today.""Why--why?"

"You've swept me off my feet--I--I can't think.""I don't want you to think--I want you to marry me right now." "I must have a little time."His face fell in despair.

"Say, little girl, don't turn me down--you'll kill me.""I'm not turning you down," she protested tenderly."I only want time to see that I'm not crazy.I have to pinch myself to see if I'm awake.It all seems a dream"--she paused and lifted her radiant face to his-- "a beautiful dream--the most wonderful my soul has ever seen.I must be sure it's real!"He drew her into his arms, and her body again relaxed in surrender as his lips touched hers.

"Isn't that the real thing?" he laughed.

She lay very still, her eyes closed, her face a scarlet flame.She was frightened at the swift realization of its overwhelming reality.The touch of his hand thrilled to the last fiber and nerve of her body.Her own trembling fingers clung to him with desperate longing tenderness.She roused herself with an effort and drew away.

"That's enough now.I must have a little common- sense.Let's go----"

He clung to her hand.

"You'll let me come to see you, tomorrow night?" "Yes----""And the next night--and every night this week-- what's the difference?

There's nobody to say no, is there?" "No one.""You'll let me?"

"Tomorrow sure.Maybe you won't want to come the next night.""Maybe I won't!Just wait and see!"

He seized both hands again and held her at arms' length.

"Don't go yet--just let me look at you a minute more! The only girl I ever had in my life--and she's the prettiest thing God ever made on this earth.Ain't I the lucky boy?""We must go now," she cried, blushing again under his burning eyes.He dropped her hands suddenly and saluted military fashion.

"All right, teacher! I'm the little boy that does exactly what he's told."They strolled leisurely along the shining sands in silence.Now and then his slender hand caught hers and crushed it.The moment he touched her a living flame flashed through her body--and through every moment of contact her nerves throbbed and quivered as if a musician were sweeping the strings of a harp.If this were not love, what could it be?

Her whole being, body and soul, responded to his.Her body moved instinctively toward his, drawn by some hidden, resistless power.Her hands went out to meet his; her lips leaped to his.

She must test it with time, of course.And yet she knew by a deep inner sense that time could only fan the flame that had been kindled into consuming fire that must melt every barrier between them.

She had asked him nothing of himself, his business or his future, and knew nothing except what he had told her in the first impetuous rush of his confession of love.No matter.The big thing today was the fact of love and the new radiance with which it was beginning to light the world.The effect was stunning.Their conversation had been the simplest of commonplace questions and answers--and yet the day was the one miracle of her life--her happiness something unthinkable until realized.

She had not asked time in order to know him better.She had only asked time to see herself more clearly in the new experience.Not for a moment did she raise the question of the worthiness of the man she loved.It was inconceivable that she should love a man not worthy of her.The only questions asked were soul-searching ones put to herself.

Through the sweet, cool drive homeward, a hundred times she askedwithin:

"Is this love?"

And each time the answer came from the depths:

"Yes--yes--a thousand times yes.It's the voice of God.I feel it and I know it."He throttled the racer down to the lowest speed and took the longest road home.

Again and again he slipped his left hand from the wheel and pressed hers.

"You won't let anybody knock me behind my back, now will you, little girl?"She pressed his hand in answer.

"I ain't got a single friend in all God's world to stand up for me but just you.""You don't need anyone," she whispered.

"You'll give me a chance to get back at 'em if any of your friends knock me, won't you?""Why should they dislike you?" He shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, I ain't exactly one o' the high-flyers now am I?" "I'm glad you're not.""Sure enough?" "Yes."

"Then it's me for you, Kiddo, for this world and the next."The car swung suddenly to the curb and Mary lifted her eyes with a start to find herself in front of her home.

Jim sprang to the ground and lifted her out.

"Keep this coat," he whispered."We'll need it tomorrow.What time is your school out?""At three o'clock."

"I can come at four?"

"You don't have to work tomorrow?" He hesitated a moment.

"No, I'm on a vacation till after Christmas.They're putting through my new patent."He followed her inside the door and held her hand in the shadows of the hall.

"All right, at four," she said."I'll be here."He stooped and kissed her, turned and passed quickly out.

She stood for a moment in the shadows and listened to the throb of the car until it melted into the roar of the city's life, her heart beating with a joy so new it was pain.