-well, I've got to look after the child. _Figurez-vous, ma chere!_
I--a protector of infants! _Un peu comique, n'est-ce pas?_"

"Ah!" Maud said, with compassion. "The poor little thing must come to us.
I will take care of her. When will you bring her?"

"You think her present plight is not to be endured for another moment?"
laughed Saltash. "_Bien!_ I will send her to you tomorrow."

"Ah! I don't mean she is not in safe keeping," protested Maud. "How old
is she? Older than Eileen?"

"A little older than that," said Saltash. "She's nineteen."

"Oh!" said Maud.

"Perhaps you do mean it now!" gibed Saltash, getting up in his sudden
fashion.

Maud rose also, facing him in the starlight. "No, Charlie I don't!
Because I know that the big things are in you and always have been, I
would trust you--with my most precious possession."

He laughed again. "But when I gave it back to you, you would look all
round it to make sure it hadn't been broken and stuck together again,
wouldn't you, Maud of the Roses?"

"No," she said. "I wouldn't. I know--Charles Rex--better than that."

He made her a sweeping bow. "Most fair and gracious lady, do not forget
that my crest is a fox's head and the motto thereupon, '_Sans vertu_!'"

She smiled, looking at him with steadfast eyes. "I will give you another
motto, Charlie," she said. "Those we love--we trust."

He made an abrupt movement. It was almost a protest. "For how long? Do
you really love me, Maud of the Roses?"

She gave him both her hands without drawing any nearer. Her eyes were
shining as stars that shine through mist. "Yes, I love you, Charlie," she
said, "so much that I can't go on being happy till I know that you are
too."

He bent very low, so that his dark face was wholly hidden from her. "I've
never been--really happy--since the day I lost you," he said.

Her hands clasped his very tightly. There was a brief silence
before--with a touch of shyness--she spoke again. "You have never
been--really happy--all your life. You don't know the meaning of the
word--yet."

"Don't I?" He stood up, still holding her hands. "I thought I'd sampled
everything."

"No," she said. "No. There is--one thing left."

"What is that?" he said.

She stood again in silence, looking at him. Then, slowly, "You have never
yet touched the joy of loving someone better--far better--than you love
yourself," she said. "I think that is the greatest joy that God can
send."

He bent towards he