Mark?"

"Yes. May I come in, Gloria?"

"Please, Mark. It's all so new, so strange ... I intended to come right
back downstairs, but I'm so tired, Mark. And I want to be alone a
little; to think. I haven't had time to think of anything! You don't
mind, do you, Mark?"

He answered promptly and heartily, refusing to allow himself to harbour
a shadow of disappointment.

"No. No, of course not. You will go right to bed? I know you must be
half-dead for sleep."

"Yes." There was a note of eagerness in the voice coming to him from
beyond the shut door.

"There was a message from your mother; she has gone to your father and
wanted you to meet her there. But we will talk of that later."

"Yes.... Good-night, Mark."

"Aren't you going to kiss me good-night?" he asked, hesitating a little
between the words. His new privilege, a lover's, a husband's, was not an
hour old; he felt strangely shy as he spoke softly to her.

"Please, Mark! I am terribly tired out, and--and I'm afraid I've mislaid
the key, and----"

That hurt him; his eyes darkened with the quick pain that came to him
from her words. He had hoped that Gloria had known him better than that.

"You need never lock your door against me, my dear," he told her gently.
"I don't want you to be afraid of me. Why, God bless you, I wouldn't
touch the hem of your dress if you didn't want me to."

"Yes," said Gloria. "I know. You are so good, Mark. But now----"

"I am going," he returned tenderly, "to sit by the fire and think. Just
to soak myself in the realization," he added with a happy laugh, "that
you are mine."

"Before you go in the morning you will come to my door?"

"If you want me to...."

"Of course, Mark."

"Then--good-night, dear."

"Good-night, Mark."

_Chapter XVI_

King was astir long before dawn. He got the fire going in the kitchen
and started breakfast, seeking to be very silent and succeeding in
making the usual clatter of a male among pots and pans. Whilst water
heated and bacon sizzled, he rummaged through the store-room at the rear
of the house, gathering what he meant to put into his pack for the four
or five days' trip. As he returned from the last journey to the
store-room, his arms full of camp accessories, including canvas and camp
blankets, he confronted Gloria, fully dressed. He dropped his arm-load
and filled his eyes with her. Any shadow left overnight in his heart was
sent scurrying before his new joyousness. Gloria