Page:Stella Dallas, a novel (IA stelladallasnove00prou).pdf/269

Rh of facts, with no excuses nor explanations. It sounded to Stephen like some beautiful epic poem. He had to close his eyes frequently to shut out tears. When she reached the end, "And so here we are, Laurel—Stephen and I, together at last."

Laurel whispered softly, "Married?"

"Yes."

"I wondered when you would be," was Laurel's unsurprised reply.

"How long have you wondered that, Laurel?" eagerly Stephen inquired.

"Oh, ever since I saw you together in the big room at Green Hills, when I came down from upstairs that first time, I felt then that you were meant to be married, only—"

"Yes, only?"

"Only you must have taken a wrong turn way back somewhere—you know how it is—a wrong turn or a detour makes all the journey different sometimes."

Stephen slipped his arm through Laurels, too. "Are you glad?" he asked her.

"Oh, ever so glad!" promptly she assured him. "It's like a book, or a play, coming out the way you hoped it would; or a journey ending where it should, even though there was a wrong turn. What shall I call you, Mrs. Morrison?" she broke off. "I've wondered and wondered. Isn't it funny?" she laughed. "You aren't Mrs. Morrison any more!"

What a little girl she was, after all, thought Stephen, and how merciful. It had been easier than he feared to tell her that he had become to another