et----"

Then his door would bang, and Myra would venture to give vent to her
suppressed laughter, and to sing a soft little

"Yeo ho! we go!--Yeo ho! Yeo ho!"

for sheer overflowing happiness.

But this was the last evening. A parting impended. Also there had been
tense moments in the honeysuckle arbour.

Jim's blue eyes were mutinous. He stood holding her hands against his
breast, as he had done in Horseshoe Cove, when the waves swept round
their feet, and he had cried: "You _must_ climb!"

"So to-morrow night," he said, "you will be at the Lodge, Shenstone; and
I, at my Club in town. Do you know how hard it is to be away from you,
even for an hour? Do you realise that if you had not been so obstinate we
never need have been parted at all? We could have gone away from here,
husband and wife together. If you had really cared, you wouldn't have
wanted to wait."

Myra smiled up into his angry eyes.

"Jim," she whispered, "it is _so_ silly to say: '_If_ you had really
cared'; because you know, perfectly well, that I care for you, more than
any woman in the world has ever cared for any man before! And I do assure
you, Jim, that you couldn't have married me _validly_ from here--and
think how awful it would be, to love as much as we love and then find out
that we were not _validly_ married--and when you come to my home, and
fetch me away from there, you will admit--yes really _admit_--that I was
right. You will have to apologise humbly for having said 'Bosh!' so
often. Jim--dearest! Look at the clock! I _must_ go. Poor Miss Murgatroyd
will grow so tired of listening for us. She always leaves her door a
crack open. So does Miss Susannah. They have all taken to sleeping with
their doors ajar. I deftly led the conversation round to riddles
yesterday, when I was alone with them for a few minutes, and asked
sternly: 'When is a door, not a door?' They all answered: 'When it is a
jar!' quite unabashed; and Miss Eliza asked another! I believe Susie
stands at her crack, in the darkness, in hopes of seeing you march by....
No, don't say naughty words. They are dears, all three of them; and we
shall miss them horribly to-morrow. Oh, Jim--I've just had such a
brilliant idea! I shall ask them to be my bridesmaids! Can't you see them
following me up the aisle? It would be worse than the duchess giving Jane
away. Ah, you don't know that story? I will tell it you, some day. Jim,
say 'Good-night' quickly, and let m