Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/144

132 and then a deep blush would suffuse her cheeks, and she had to turn away her head to hide the new feelings that had been born to her heart. Sometimes—oh, delicious moments!—she would support him with one arm while he walked up and down the room trying to regain the strength of his legs. Sometimes their faces almost touched, and he could smell the perfume of her golden hair and feel her hot breath on his cheeks, and he had to put his arm round her shoulders to steady his tottering footsteps. Then he would sit down on the sofa and she would read to him, and later on Herbert would join them at a meal.

And so days and weeks sped by, days which Flora Houghton, tied down to the little earth millions of miles away, spent in watching for the smallest scrap of news of the Anglo-Saxon fleet. As they approached nearer to Neptune the dim shimmering light which pervaded space became brighter as the sun grew