Lavinia gave a little cry full of relief, joy and wonderment, and shrank against him.
"Oh, please, please forgive me and keep me with you!" she cried, and clung to the lapels of his coat.
Carstares swept her right off the ground in the violence of his embrace, but she did not mind, although the crushing was ruinous to her silks. Silks were no longer uppermost in her brain. She returned his kisses eagerly, sobbing a little.
When Carstares was able to say anything beyond how he loved her, he demanded if she did not love him?
"Of course I do!" she cooed. "I always, always did, only I was so selfish and so careless!"
He carried her to the sofa and sat down with her on his knee, trying to look into her face. But she had somehow contrived to hide it on his shoulder, and he did not succeed.
"Then you never loved that puppy?" he asked, amazed.
One hand crept up to his other shoulder.
"Oh, Dicky, no! And-and you-you don't love that horrid Mrs. Fanshawe, do you?"
He was still more amazed.
"Mrs. Fanshawe? Great heavens, no! You never thought that, surely?"
"I did-I did! Since you were always at her house, and so cold to me-how could I help it?"
"Cold to you? My dearest, surely not?"
"You were-you truly were-and I was so miserable-I-I thought I had been so unreasonable and so horrid that you had ceased to l-love meand I did not know what to do. And-and then you told me that you were going to-to confess-and I lost my temper and said I would n-not stay with you- But I never, never meant it-and when you seemed to expect me to go-I-I did not know what to do again!"
He patted her shoulder comfortingly.
"Sweetheart, don't cry! I had no idea of all this-why, I was sure that you loved Lovelace-I never doubted it-why in the world did you not tell me the truth?"
She sat up at that, and looked at him.
"Why, how could I?" she demanded. "I was quite certain that you loved Isabella Fanshawe. I felt I had to go away, and I could not do it alone-so-so-so, of course I had to elope. And I told Harold last night that I would go with him-and I'm afraid he didn't quite want me when he heard that I loved you. Oh, Dicky darling, you'll tell him that I won't go with him, won't you?"
He could not help laughing.
"Ay, I'll tell him. 'Pon rep., sweetheart, I can find it in me to be sorry for him!"