Other Things Being Equal Part 27

She kept before them till they reached the gate, and stood inside of it as they drew near.

"Then you will not be home till Monday," he said, taking Mrs. Levice's hand and raising his hat; "and I am off on the early morning train.

Good-by."

As she turned in at the gate, he held out his hand to Ruth. His fingers closed softly, tightly over hers; she heard him say almost inaudibly,--

"Till Monday."

She raised her shy eyes for one brief second to his glowing ones; and he pa.s.sed, a tall, dark figure, down the shadowy road.

When Mr. Levice returned from his game of whist, he quietly opened the door of his daughter's bedroom and looked in. All was well; the wolf had departed, and his lamb slept safe in the fold.

But in the dark his lamb's eyes were mysteriously bright. Sleep! With this new crown upon her! Humble as the beautiful beggar-maid must have felt when the king raised her, she wondered why she had been thus chosen by one whom she had deemed so immeasurably above her. And this is another phase of woman's love,--that it exalts the beloved beyond all reasoning.

Chapter XVI

At six o'clock the hills in their soft carpet of dull browns and greens were gently warming under the sun's first rays. At seven the early train that Dr. Kemp purposed taking would leave. Ruth, with this knowledge at heart, had softly risen and left the cottage. Close behind the depot rose a wooded hill. She had often climbed it with the Tyrrell boys; and what was to prevent her doing so now? It afforded an excellent view of the station.

It was very little past six, and she began leisurely to ascend the hill.

The sweet morning air was in her nostrils, and she pushed the broad hat form her happy eyes. She paused a moment, looking up at the wooded hill-top, which the sun was jewelling in silver.

"Do you see something beautiful up there?"

With an inarticulate cry she wheeled around and faced Dr. Kemp within a hand's breadth of her.

"Oh," she cried, stepping back with burning cheeks, "I did not mean--I did not expect--"

"Nor did I," he said in a low voice; "chance is kinder to us than ourselves--beloved."

She turned quite white at the low, intense word.

"You understood me last night--and I was not--deceived?"

Her head drooped lower till the broad brim of her hat hid her face.

With one quick step he reached her side.

"Ruth, look at me."

She never had been able to resist his compelling voice; and now with a swift-drawn breath she threw back her head and looked up at him fairly, with all her soul in her eyes.

"Are you satisfied?" she asked tremulously.

"Not yet," he answered as with one movement he drew her to him.

"My Santa Filomena," he murmured with his lips against her hair, "this is worth a lifetime of waiting; and I have waited long."

In his close, pa.s.sionate clasp her face was hidden; she hardly dared meet his eyes when he finally held her from him.

"Why, you are not afraid to look at me? No one knows you better than I, dear; you can trust me, I think."

"I know," she said, her hand fluttering in his; "but isn't--the train coming?"

"Are you so anxious to have me go?"

Her hand closed tightly around his.

"Because," laying his bearded cheek against her fair one, "I have something to ask you."

"To ask me?"

"Yes; are you surprised, can't you guess? Ruth, will you bless me still further? Will you be my wife, love?"

A strange thrill stole over her; his voice had a.s.sumed a bewildering tenderness. "If you really want me," she replied, with a sobbing laugh.

"Soon?" he persisted.

"Why?"

"Because you must. You will find me a tyrant in love, my Ruth."

"I am not afraid of you, sir."

"Then you should be. Think, child, I am an old man, already thirty-five; did you remember that when you made me king among men?"

"Then I am quite an old lady; I am twenty-two."

"As ancient as that? Then you should be able to answer me. Make it soon, sweetheart."

"Why, how you beg--for a king. Besides, there is Father, you know; he decides everything for me."

"I know; and I have already asked him on paper. There is a note awaiting him at the hotel; you will see I took a great deal for granted last night, and--Ah, the whistle! What day is this, Ruth?"

"Friday."

"Good Friday, sweet, I think."

"Oh, I am not at all superst.i.tious."

"And Monday is four days off; well, it must make up for all we lose.

Monday will be four days rolled into one."

"Remember," he continued hurriedly, "you are doubly precious now, darling, and take good care of yourself till our 'Auf Wiedersehn.'"

"And--and--you will remember that for me too, D-doctor?"

"Who? There is no doctor here that I know of."