Placing her handkerchief on the window-ledge, she rose briskly.
"I really must go and change my shoes," she said in quite a different tone. "These slippers seem to--er--pinch a bit."
If they really did pinch, there was no sign of it as she crossed the room and disappeared through a door at the farther end. Mary stared after her, puzzled and a little hurt at the apparent lack of sympathy in one to whom she had always turned for comfort and understanding. Then her mind flashed back to her aunt's farewell words, and her brow wrinkled thoughtfully.
A knock at the door made her start nervously, and for a long moment she hesitated before replying. At the sight of Buck Stratton standing on the threshold, she flushed painfully and sprang to her feet.
"Good morning," he said gently, as he came quickly over to her. "I hope you're feeling a lot better."
"Oh, yes," she answered briefly. "I'm really quite all right now."
He had taken her hand and still held it, and somehow the mere pressure of his fingers embarrassed her oddly and seemed to weaken her resolution.
"You don't quite look it," he commented. "I reckon it'll take some time to get rid of those--those shadows and hollows and all."
He was looking down at her with that same tender, whimsical smile that quirked the corners of his mouth unevenly, and the expression in his eyes set Mary's heart to fluttering. She could not bear it, somehow! To give him up was even harder than she had expected, and suddenly her lids drooped defensively to hide the bright glitter that smarted in her eyes.
Suddenly he broke the brief silence. "When are you going to marry me, dear?" he asked quietly.
Her lids flew up and she stared at him through a blurring haze of tears. "Oh!" she cried unsteadily. "I can't! I--can't. You--you don't know how I feel. It's all too--dreadful! It doesn't seem as if I could ever--look you in the face again."
Swiftly his arms slid about her, and she was drawn gently but irresistibly to him.
"Don't try just now, dear, if you'd rather not," he murmured, smiling down into her tear-streaked face. "You'll have a long time to get used to it, you know."
Instinctively she tried to struggle. Then all at once a wave of incredible happiness swept over her. Abruptly nothing seemed to matter--nothing on earth save this one thing. With a little sigh like that of a tired child, her arm stole up about his neck, her head fell gently back against his shoulder.