don't care if the whole world sees," he said, quoting her words.
"Don't pull away your head--I'm just 'a bloomin' Tommy' back in Blighty
with his girl."

Meg resigned herself to his kisses. "All London's doing it," she said
breathlessly. "You'll see fathers and sons, and mothers and sons, and
lovers walking arm in arm, in the West End even. Their time together
is too short and precious to think of stupid conventions. The national
reserve of the English nation is swept away."

While Margaret was speaking, she was thinking and thinking. Could she
marry him before he returned to the Front? It was all so sudden. But
why not? War had taught women to take what happiness they could get in
their two hands, not to let it slip. Michael made her thoughts more
definite.

"Did Freddy trust me?" he asked.

Meg's eyes dropped; her heart beat painfully.

"He didn't," Michael said. "Don't pain yourself, dearest, by
answering. He'll understand better now--everything will be made clear."

"Don't blame him, Mike!"

"I'm not blaming him--I'd have done the same. It sounded beastly, the
whole story. Hang Millicent Mervill!"

Margaret proceeded to tell him in broken sentences that she had seen
Millicent in Cairo, and related something of what she had told her and
how, after that, she had kept the promise which she had made to Freddy,
to go back to England if she heard from either Michael himself or from
Millicent that they had been together in the desert.

"And you heard that she was in my camp?"

"Yes--Millicent took care that I heard that, and . . ." she paused.

Michael looked into her eyes. "And you went back England?"

"Yes, I kept my promise." Her eyes told him that she had kept it
because her honour demanded it, not because she believed all that
Millicent had told her.

"And, knowing her story, you didn't condemn me, you still believed in
me and loved me?" His eyes thanked her.

Margaret returned his steadfast gaze. "Yes, it was not hard to trust
you, Mike. I remembered our promise to help and trust one another.
What are promises and vows made for if they are not to be kept when
they are put to the test? We did not make ours lightly--I told you I
should understand."

"Dearest, how beautiful your love is! To-day you welcomed me without
one shadow of reproach! Had I not read in your eyes all that I did, I
should not have dared to follow you when you left the train."

"Would you have taken me in y