"I don't want to wait until you are well--to be married----"

As he turned on her his puzzled glance the color flooded her face.
"Perhaps it isn't usual for a woman to say--such a thing. Perhaps I
shouldn't say it. But--I want to feel that I belong to you--I want to
know that I have the right to be always at your side. I want to know
that--where you go--I can go--Justin----"

The bandages were still on his hands and arms, those hands which yearned
to take her hands, those arms which ached to enfold her.

But his eyes held a look which was a caress. "But it would not be fair
to you, sweetheart,--to spend your honeymoon in nursing me."

"It would be fair to me. Oh, Justin, Justin, it isn't just sweetheart
love that I am giving you; it is wife love and mother love--I feel
sometimes as if you were my hurt little boy, and that I'd give my life
to help you----"

She was not crying, but her voice held an emotion which was deeper than
tears; her steadfast eyes met his; her little hands were laid lightly on
the covers above his heart.

And suddenly he saw her enthroned--a woman, not a child--a wife, not a
playmate. Her youth and beauty were still there to charm him, but back
of them was a quality which would hold him until the end--a divine
quality of tenderness, of compassion, of eternal constancy.

And, in response, he brought the best that manhood can bring to
woman--reverence and that high regard which makes of marriage a
spiritual bond.

He tried to speak, but his voice failed. Then, as she bent above him,
she heard his whisper:

"Kiss me--my wife!"

* * * * *

In the days which followed the pretty ladies came in a charming
procession--Diana and Sophie, little Sara, bravely wistful, Doris
escorted by Bobbie. And last, but not least in importance, came Letty
Matthews, in a new white dress and rose-wreathed hat, and with happiness
glorifying her plain features.

But though they came and went, all these good friends of his, and he
smiled and greeted them, his eyes went always beyond them to the little
white and gold creature with the woman-eyes. And his voice would call
for her, and until she came he would not be content.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE AFTERGLOW

Anthony vetoed absolutely the idea of a marriage before Justin's fate
should be finally decided.

"But if he knows," Bettina urged with trembling lips, "if he knows that
he may be--crippled--he will say that I shall not