the line. It was
only a little over two blocks to the cottage. On the front steps Billy
took the key from his pocket.

"Funny, isn't it?" he said, as the key turned in the lock. "You an' me.
Just you an' me."

While he lighted the lamp in the parlor, Saxon was taking off her hat.
He went into the bedroom and lighted the lamp there, then turned back
and stood in the doorway. Saxon, still unaccountably fumbling with her
hatpins, stole a glance at him. He held out his arms.

"Now," he said.

She came to him, and in his arms he could feel her trembling.

BOOK II

CHAPTER I

The first evening after the marriage night Saxon met Billy at the door
as he came up the front steps. After their embrace, and as they crossed
the parlor hand in hand toward the kitchen, he filled his lungs through
his nostrils with audible satisfaction.

"My, but this house smells good, Saxon! It ain't the coffee--I can smell
that, too. It's the whole house. It smells... well, it just smells good
to me, that's all."

He washed and dried himself at the sink, while she heated the frying pan
on the front hole of the stove with the lid off. As he wiped his hands
he watched her keenly, and cried out with approbation as she dropped the
steak in the fryin pan.

"Where'd you learn to cook steak on a dry, hot pan? It's the only way,
but darn few women seem to know about it."

As she took the cover off a second frying pan and stirred the savory
contents with a kitchen knife, he came behind her, passed his arms under
her arm-pits with down-drooping hands upon her breasts, and bent his
head over her shoulder till cheek touched cheek.

"Um-um-um-m-m! Fried potatoes with onions like mother used to make. Me
for them. Don't they smell good, though! Um-um-m-m-m!"

The pressure of his hands relaxed, and his cheek slid caressingly past
hers as he started to release her. Then his hands closed down again.
She felt his lips on her hair and heard his advertised inhalation of
delight.

"Um-um-m-m-m! Don't you smell good--yourself, though! I never understood
what they meant when they said a girl was sweet. I know, now. And you're
the sweetest I ever knew."

His joy was boundless. When he returned from combing his hair in the
bedroom and sat down at the small table opposite her, he paused with
knife and fork in hand.

"Say, bein' married is a whole lot more than it's cracked up to be by
most married folks. Honest to God, Saxon, we can show 'em a f