"Oughtn't you?" she answered softly. "Do you remember my saying one
evening at the Savoy Hotel that there was only one thing in the world
which might even then keep me from making a marriage that was horrible
to me?"

"I remember well," I returned. "I remember everything you ever said to
me. Will you tell me what that one thing was?"

"I meant _if you had loved me_. Sometimes I--thought you did, but
you would never say so. You only asked to be 'my friend.'"

"Oh, if I had but known--if I had but dared!" I exclaimed. "I was
perishing of love for you from the first night I ever saw your face. Is
it too late now? I don't ask to be your friend, I ask to be
everything--your lover, and your husband."

"And I _give_ you everything," she said.

So it came about that the sunshine of happiness drove forth the black
shadows which would fain have lingered to haunt us like ghosts from the
House by the Lock.

THE END

Transcriber Notes

Spelling and punctuation inaccuracies were silently corrected.
Archaic and variable spelling is preserved.
Author's punctuation style is preserved.
Passages in italics indicated by _underscores_.

End of Project Gutenberg's The House by the Lock, by C. N. Williamson

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOUSE BY THE LOCK ***

***** This file should be named 31228.txt or 31228.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/2/2/31228/

Produced by Darleen Dove, Suzanne Shell, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative wor