Page:Barbour--Peggy in the rain.djvu/255

 the sobs ceased. "It's all right now, dearest, isn't it? We've found each other again and nothing is going to part us, Peggy-in-the-Rain. Forget about to-night, dear. You're tired and frightened" "Not now." She sighed and pressed closer into his arms. "But I was—horribly. I guess I—couldn't have done it, after all."

"Done it? What, dear?"

After a moment she answered in whispers. "I meant to stay there," she said. "I thought perhaps it would—be over soon that way. That's why I didn't answer when you knocked"

"Peggy!"

"Yes." She shuddered and his arms crushed her against him. "I didn't recognize your voice, though. Isn't that strange? Sometimes I've thought I could hear it if you even whispered my name a thousand miles away!"

"Oh, my girl, I've whispered it a thousand times a day! But why did you want to do such an awful thing, dear?"

"I was—tired; and discouraged. It was your fault." She laughed a little ghost of a laugh. "The city editor said I was to go to the hotel