ssing the soft dark ringlets that clustered about her neck.

"About getting married, little sweetheart," he said. "You want to get it
over quickly and so do I. There's no reason why we shouldn't in fact. How
about the beginning of next month? How about April?"

"Oh, Eustace!" She clung to him closer still; she had no words. But still
that sense of being caught, of being borne against her will, possessed
her, filling her with dread rather than ecstasy. Whither was she going?
Ah, whither?

He went on with his easy self-assurance, speaking as if he held the whole
world at his disposal. "We will go South for the honeymoon. I've crowds
of things to show you--Rome, Naples, Venice. After that we'll come back
and go for that summer trip in the yacht I promised you."

"And Isabel too--and Scott?" asked Dinah, in muffled accents.

He laughed over her head, as at the naive prattling of a child. "What! On
our honeymoon? Oh, hardly, I think. I'll see to it that you're not bored.
And look here, my elf! I won't have you shy with me any more. Is that
understood? I'm not an ogre."

"I think you are--rather," murmured Dinah.

He bent over her, his lips upon her neck. "You--midget! And you
think I'm going to devour you? Well, perhaps I shall some day if you
go on running away. There's a terrible threat! Now hold up your head,
Daphne--Daphne--and let me have that kiss!"

She hesitated a while longer, and then feeling his patience ebbing she
lifted her face impulsively to his. "You will be good to me? Promise!
Promise!" she pleaded tremulously.

He was laughing still, but his eyes were aflame. "That depends," he
declared. "I can't answer for myself when you run away. Come! When are
you going to kiss me first? Isn't it time you began?"

She slipped her arms about his neck. Her face was burning. "I will now,"
she said.

Yet the moment her lips touched his, the old wild fear came upon her. She
made a backward movement of shrinking.

He caught her to him. "Daphne!" he said, and kissed her quivering throat.

She did not resist him, but her arms fell apart, and the red blush
swiftly died. When he released her, she fell back a step with eyes fast
closed, and in a moment her hands went up as though to shield face and
neck from the scorching of a furnace.

He watched her, a slight frown drawing his brows. The flame still
glittered in his eyes, but his mouth was hard. "Look here, child! Don't
be silly!" he said. "If you treat me like