The Triumph of Jill Part 22

"I am not taking it to heart," he said. "I was a little bit hipped, that's all."

"You don't think that I acted wrongly?" queried Jill diffidently. "You are not vexed that I declined his offer for baby?"

"Good Lord, no!" he answered vehemently. "I could never have reconciled myself to giving the little beggar up. We managed very well without him before he came, Jill dear; but we couldn't manage now after once having him, could we? You did what was right as I knew you would. In any serious matter I should invariably leave the decision to you."

"How good you are to me, Jack," she whispered gratefully. "How unselfis.h.!.+ It doesn't seem fair that you should have had to give up so much for me. And now comes this fresh trouble. We have had one or two worries, haven't we dear?"

"Yes," he answered brightly, rising, and putting his arm protectingly around her waist, "we have, but fortunately we are both sufficiently self-respecting, and single-purposed to trust one another implicitly, and so the worries don't affect us very much. Some people would have magnified them into tragedies, but we have managed to shake them off somehow, and come up smiling. So long as we have each other, and health--"

"And Baby," supplemented Jill. "And Baby, of course; there is nothing much we need worry about. The business manages to keep on its feet somehow; I think one day it may possibly even walk."

"You are brave and confident," Jill whispered a little wistfully, "but you will never be well off now dear."

And St. John with his arm still round her, drew her nearer to him and kissed her upon the lips. The feeling of sadness had pa.s.sed, a deep happiness and contentment had risen in its place.

"I _am_ well off," he answered. "No man, whatever his social standing or the size of his banking account, could be better off. I wouldn't swop you and the boy, Jill, for the untold wealth of the world."

The End.