Page:Keeping the Peace.pdf/264

 glad that there is a pretty girl on his knees): "If you are bad again—I'll leave you like a shot out of a gun. We have everything to make us happy and contented and we are going to have more and more—and you insist on spoiling it."

Anne: "But I see that too. And I won't be bad any more. Won't you forgive me?"

Edward: "Of course."

Anne: "Of course! That's not forgiving me. That's just words. I might be sitting on a dead man's knees. Your arm is like the arm of a corpse."

Edward tightened the corpse arm and she sighed happily and he kissed her. His kiss was cool. It was like the kiss of a parent for an erring child. Nevertheless Anne smiled to herself. She had won her battle. She would have been willing to stake her life that his next kiss would be warmer. It was.

Thereafter for a few days Anne was very good indeed. It seemed as if she had really determined to get the better of her crazy temper and foolish jealousy. And she made no further objection to Edward's seeing the Ruggles.

The night before they left Paris he had dinner with them and after dinner strolled with Alice in the Tuileries Gardens. She said she had something to tell him that she had not felt like telling