"Oh--h--h! So you've come at last, my lord! Let me look at you, to make sure that it is you. Oh, Rodney, why have you been so long in coming?"
She put her arms about his neck and drew him down to her and kissed him. He said, softly:
"You wretch! To let a thing like that be your first word to me!"
"It's such a long way down, though it's well worth stooping for."
He kissed her again, tenderly, on her pretty lips--he was an expert in the art of kissing. Because he did it so well, she, not knowing that such skill came of practice, had him kiss her again and again and again, till the breath had half gone out of her body and she was all rapturous palpitation.
"If you only knew what ages it seems since I saw you!"
"Stella, what do you think it has seemed to me? If you only knew what I have gone through!"
"Poor boy! I suppose you have had to bear a good deal."
"You have no notion what I've had to bear."
That was true enough, or she would not have been as close to him as she was.
"It was bad enough when you didn't come on Sunday. I suppose you didn't get back from that Mrs. What's-her-name, your mother's friend, in time?"
"My dear, I had a chapter of accidents, and nearly missed the last train; I'll tell you all about it some day, and you'll laugh. I didn't feel like laughing then, I can tell you that."
"And I didn't feel like laughing, and I can tell you that. In fact, I--I cried."
"I did; it seemed so awful. That was the longest Sunday I ever knew; and then when the evening came I kept expecting you every moment; I kept rushing out of the front door to look for you. Every footstep in the street I thought was yours, and every vehicle the hansom which was bringing you; when it kept getting later and later, and still you didn't come, I--I fancied all sorts of things, and I simply had to cry."
"My darling, I would infinitely rather have been with you than where I was."
That again was true enough; part of the time he had been in the tunnel--a gruesome time.
"What time was it when you did get back?"
"Frightfully late; but--Stella, you won't tell anyone if I tell you something? Promise!"
"You can laugh if you like; I don't mind your laughing a little bit; but I don't want them to laugh."
"I did come to see you--after I came back."