Page:A Wild-Goose Chase - Balmer - 1915.djvu/50

36 the supplies for the Arctic. Eric had in his hand an invoice which he had been checking up and Margaret had been comparing with another. A moment before, his hand had been steady; he had even been able to meet her eyes once and again. Now the sheet he held trembled so that the figures were illegible though both pretended to study them.

She was the first to move. She took hold of the sheet as though to stop its shaking, then her fingers touched his. The paper dropped and he seized her hand.

"Yes, Eric," she looked at him now, "why do we pretend?"

He released her fingers and stood away in his dismay. "Margaret; I love you! Oh, I love you! And you know it!"

"Yes. I love you! You know that too!"

"But you should not!"

"Should not?"

"Margaret, you must not!"

"Love you, dear? I cannot help it."

"But nothing can come of it!"

"Of our love, anything can come, Eric!"

It brought him to his knees, frightened