her neck in her little palms, said:

'I thought, oh! long ago, that I would marry him myself. But you knew
him first . . . And he only saved me . . . But you saved him!' . . . And
then she laid her head down on the throbbing bosom, and sobbed . . .

And Stephen sobbed too.

Before they left the room, Stephen said to her, very gravely, for the
issue might be one of great concern:

'Of course, Pearl dear, our secrets are all between ourselves!' Pearl
crossed her two forefingers and kissed them. But she said nothing; she
had sworn! Stephen went on:

'And, darling, you will remember too that one must never speak or even
think if they can help it about anyone's marrying anyone else till they
say so themselves! What is it, dear, that you are smiling at?'

'I know, Stephen! I musn't take off the bandage till the Doctor says
so!'

Stephen smiled and kissed her. Hand in hand, Pearl chattering merrily,
they went down to the drawing-room.

CHAPTER XXXVII--GOLDEN SILENCE

Each day that passed seemed to add to the trouble in the heart of these
young people; to widen the difficulty of expressing themselves. To
Stephen, who had accepted the new condition of things and whose whole
nature had bloomed again under the sunshine of hope, it was the less
intolerable. She had set herself to wait, as had countless thousands of
women before her; and as due proportion will, till the final cataclysm
abolishes earthly unions. But Harold felt the growth, both positive and
negative, as a new torture; and he began to feel that he would be unable
to go through with it. In his heart was the constant struggle of hope;
and in opposition to it the seeming realisation of every new fancy of
evil. That bitter hour, when the whole of creation was for him turned
upside down, was having its sad effect at last. Had it not been for that
horrid remembrance he would have come to believe enough in himself to put
his future to the test. He would have made an opportunity at which
Stephen and himself would have with the fires of their mutual love burned
away the encircling mist. There are times when a single minute of
commonsense would turn sorrow into joy; and yet that minute, our own
natures being the opposing forces, will be allowed to pass.

Those who loved these young people were much concerned about them. Mrs.
Stonehouse took their trouble so much to heart that she spoke to her
husband about it, seriously advising that one or ot