blivious of the noisy world
about them, which, happily for them, was absorbed in matters of far
greater moment.

"Can't I help you?" Lenox asked; and the simple question, with all that
it implied of his renewed right of service, thrilled her like a caress.

"I wish you could. But I've got through most of it already."

"That's bad luck. Maurice not much use on these occasions, I suppose?"

"Not the smallest use, bless him! He says I have more talent for it
than he! But call him Michael, _cher ami_, only to me."

"Michael then, by all means--Quita.--You can't think what it is to me
to be able to call you by your name again," he added with sudden
fervour.

She laughed and blushed deliciously.

"I noticed that you never called me by--the other one," she said,
looking intently at a distant tree.

"Good Lord, no--I'd have bitten my tongue out sooner!"

He could not keep his eyes from her face; and as the blush died down
its pallor smote him.

"Did you sleep at all?" he asked abruptly.

"Yes; for an hour or two. Did you?"

"Didn't even lie down."

"Oh, _mon pauvre_----!"

"Hush!--Don't trouble your dear head about that,"

"But I must. It breaks my heart----"

He laughed. "That's worse than ever! You've got to keep your heart
intact--for me."

His eyes travelled from her face to her unadorned left hand. Hers
followed them; and a half smile parted her lips.

"Where d'you keep them?" he asked under his breath.

Still smiling, she unfastened two buttons of her habit and vouchsafed
him a glimpse of gold and diamonds. "They live on a chain--in there,"
she explained softly.

"You have worn them, then, after a fashion?"

"Yes: since I learnt to love--my bondage!"

"Did you really never wish that I might be conveniently wiped out, even
in the early days?"

"No, never:--and I am thankful now that I _can_ say 'No' with perfect
truth."

She drew in a long breath of ecstasy. The morning cheerfulness of the
world at large, the music of her own pulses, and of the man's voice,
vibrant with things inexpressible, filled her with a very oppression of
happiness.

"Oh, Eldred," she breathed. "It still feels like a dream. Let's talk
sheer prose just to make it feel real!--Are you and the Desmonds riding
back with Colonel and Miss Mayhew?"

"Yes."

"So are we."

"And Garth?"

"I suppose so. But I want _you_ to ride with me. Will you--darling?"

She added the entreaty of her eyes to the last wo