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Rh gotten. Nothing mattered but the sweetness of her lips on his own and that vague fragrance that clung about her hair and dress. It intoxicated him. He held her off; looking at her out of shining eyes, and laughing with pure pagan joy.

"Are you alive?" he said. "You little wild-haired thing! You want a garland of acorns and oak-leaves on that head of yours, and all the green grass under a fairy-forest to dance on."

The glowing exultance of him seemed to fill the room up. Her veins tingled with his vitality. He put an electric spark into the air which lighted her own heart to a flame.

"I wanted you," she cried. "Dick, I wanted you! I wanted you!"

"I know you did. And I wanted you. And I've come to you. Good Lord, we thought we could do without each other, did we? What fools we were, my little girl. What fools! Ah! We're wiser now. Kiss me, sweetheart. Jennifer, if the skies fall, we'll have the hour. We'll have the hour, by God, whatever comes."

His vehemence began to frighten her. She shrank a little in the strong grasp of his arms.

"I can't think," she said breathlessly. "When you look and talk like that I can't think."

"Who wants you to think? Leave that for another day. Laugh, Jennifer. Don't look at me with your dear mouth quivering so. Laugh, sweetheart, for we have found each other at last."

For the moment she believed it. He was so glad, so gloriously sure. She smiled faintly, uncertainly, looking up at him with wet, hungry eyes. She noted the dark bruise which Ducane had made on his cheek-bone, and the rumpled hair, and the deep wind-burn tan of his skin. She put her fingers up softly to the bruise.

"Does that hurt?" she whispered.

He laughed again, remembering whose hand had given it.

"Not now, my darling. No. Nothing can hurt me now, I think. I'm going to wear you for an amulet in future, little girl. Do you hear that? You're coming away with me, Jennifer. Where shall we go, honey? We've all the