"Yes, my father bought the place," said Maude. "I asked him to do so,
and he consented at once. I could not have let it pass to strangers.
You see, I had been so happy here; it was here that you asked me to be
your wife. And father has offered to settle it upon us," she blushed
slightly, and her eyes became downcast. "He is no longer--opposed to
our marriage; he knows that I would marry you if all the world cried
'No!'"
They had been sitting talking for nearly an hour. She had recovered
from the shock of his sudden presence, and was seated beside him--so
close that she could touch him with her hand--calm now, but with a glow
in her usually pale cheek, a light in her eyes which had been absent
for many a weary month past. He had given her, mostly in answer to her
eager questions, a very abbreviated account of his life in Australia;
telling her less even than he had told Ida; and it is needless to
remark, saying nothing of the cause of his hasty return.
"Ah, well," she said, drawing a long breath, "it is all over now,
Stafford. Ah, it is good to have you back safe and sound. You are well,
are you not? You look pale and thin and--and tired. But I suppose it's
the journey. Yes, it is all over; you need not wander any longer; you
have come back to me, have you not, Stafford? If you knew how I have
missed you, how I have longed for you! And now you will settle down and
take your place in the world and be happy! Do you think I shall not
make you happy, Stafford? Ah, do not be afraid;" her eyes sought his
and her hand stole towards his arm.
He rose and leant against the mantel-shelf.
"I only know that I am quite unworthy of you, Maude," he said, gravely.
She looked up at him and laughed.
"Are you? Who cares! Not I! _I_ only know that I love you so dearly
that if you were the blackest villain to be found in fiction, it would
make no difference to me."
He was filled with shame and self-reproach, and turned away his head
that she might not see the shame in his eyes.
"How did you come?" she asked, presently. "If my father were only at
home! You could stay with us, then."
"I am staying at The Woodman," he said.