s, did you ever want me to?"

It was too beautiful a moonlight night to waste in the house, or even on
the porch. The couch had been wheeled to its accustomed place in the
rose-garden, and Allan was supposed to be lying on it as he often did in
the evenings. But it was hard to make him stay there.

"Oh, you _must_ lie down," said Phyllis hurriedly, trying to move out of
the circle of his arms. "You mustn't stand till we find how much is
enough.... I'm going to send for the wolfhound next week. You won't mind
him now, will you?"

"Did you ever want to be here in my arms, Phyllis?"

"Of course not!" said Phyllis, as a modest young person should.
"But--but----"

"Well, my wife?"

"I've often wondered just where I'd reach to," said Phyllis in a
rush.... "Allan, _please_ don't stand any longer!"

"I'll lie down if you'll sit on the couch by me."

"Very well," said Phyllis; and sat obediently in the curve of his arm
when he had settled himself in the old position, the one that looked so
much more natural for him.

"Mine, every bit of you!" he said exultantly. "Heaven bless that
tramp!... And to think we were talking about annulments!... Do you
remember that first night, dear, after mother died? I was half-mad with
grief and physical pain. And Wallis went after you. I didn't want him
to. But he trusted you from the first--good old Wallis! And you came in
with that swift, sweeping step of yours, as I've seen you come fifty
times since--half-flying, it seemed to me then--with all your pretty
hair loose, and an angelic sort of a white thing on. I expect I was a
brute to you--I don't remember how I acted--but I know you sat on the
bed by me and took both my wrists in those strong little hands of yours,
and talked to me and quieted me till I fell fast asleep. You gave me the
first consecutive sleep I'd had in four months. It felt as if life and
calmness and strength were pouring from you to me. You stayed till I
fell asleep."

"I remember," said Phyllis softly. She laid her cheek by his, as it had
been on that strange marriage evening that seemed so far away now. "I
was afraid of you at first. But I felt that, too, as if I were giving
you my strength. I was so glad I could! And then I fell asleep, too,
over on your shoulder."

"You never told me that," said Allan reproachfully. Phyllis laughed a
little.

"There never seemed to be any point in our conversations where it fitted
in neatly," she said demurely. Allan lau