I thought they
might come in handy for him at Palm Beach. I cannot quite explain why
it was, but I had the sudden desire to load the man with favors and
presents.

It was only on the way to his house that the rod and the tackle-box
struck me as an excellent excuse for so early a morning call. I left
them on the table in the front hall, and marched boldly through the
house, and unannounced into the living-room.

Of all the Lucy that turned swiftly from a window at the sound of my
steps, and hurried to meet me, I saw only the great blue eyes.

She came into my arms as if it was the most natural thing in the world
for her to do, as if they had always been her comfort and her refuge.
She was calm and fresh as a rose in the early morning. I could feel
her heart beating tranquilly against mine. It seemed to me that the
essence of every sweetest flower in the world had been used in her
making. I felt that she was the most precious and defenseless thing in
creation, and that me alone she trusted to cherish her and to defend
her. It could not but be right to hold her thus closer and closer and
to learn that her heart beat no longer tranquilly, but with a
fluttering throbbing quickness like the heart of a wild bird that you
have caught and hold in your hand.

All this while my lips were pressed to hers and hers to mine. Then
from the playground door rose in lamentation over some tragic-seeming
mishap of play, the voice of Hurry.

Our kiss ended upon the shrill note of woe and protest. But still we
looked each other in the eyes, and she said: "What are we going to do
about it?"

XXII

She hadn't told her husband.

She had been on the point of telling him, but for once her great gift
of frankness had failed her. She had not feared any storm that might
burst upon her own head; it was only that her heart had rebelled
against adding to the weight of care and sorrow which her husband
already carried. Let him have what pleasure he could out of the trip
to Palm Beach. When he returned she could do her telling.

The fact that she had not told, and was not going to for some time,
troubled her. She felt, she said, as if she was lying. She made it
very clear that her reticence was for his sake, not for her own.

Personally I rejoiced in the failure of her frankness. Trouble enough
was bound to come of our love for each other; at best there would be
weary months of waiting for old knots to be untied before th