He lifted one of them, in a dazed way, and looked at it, all brown with work and yet a wonder in its virile power. Then a flame pa.s.sed over him and burned up what kept him from her. His arms were about her and he bent his mouth to hers. For the first time since he could remember, he forgot what he had called his destiny. And after they had kissed, he said,--
"Now, sweetheart, now we can talk. It"s better so, even if we say good-by to-morrow."
She drew apart from him and went back to her chair. But there she stretched out her hands to him and Osmond took them, and so, holding them, they spoke out their true minds. Her eyes were br.i.m.m.i.n.g full.
"I wasn"t sure you would take my present," she said. "It"s dear of you to take it, Osmond."
"Your love, your wonderful love!"
"I selected it with great care, dear." She was laughing. "It"s very shiny, and nice, and warranted to last. It"s the strongest love I could find. I never saw one like it. Shall we live in the playhouse now, dear?"
"You will live in my heart. Rose, I kissed you."
She bent to him.
"Kiss me again. Kisses are little blooms budding out of my love. You are a gardener-man. You know the faster flowers are picked, the sooner they bloom again."
He was regarding her in wonder.
"You must be crazy to think you like me!" he said honestly. Again she laughed.
"I am! stark mad. I feel as if a thousand birds were singing and all the lilies opening: You remember how they smelled that night, Osmond? You wouldn"t go with me to smell them. They"ve come to us. They"re here."
He held her gaze.
"Be serious," he said.
"I can"t, I like you so!"
"Only till I ask you this. You said once you had always been in love with love."
"Always. Ought I to be ashamed of it? I am not. I am proud. To find the half of you that you have been lonesome for, and then be faithful to it,--oh, beautiful!"
"Are you in love with love, or are you in love with me?"
"With you, dear Osmond." The clear eyes answered him in a joyous confidence.
"I must have taken hold of your imagination."
"Yes! You make me see visions and dream dreams. Hear how fast I talk to you! The words can"t tumble out quick enough, there are so many more pushing them."
"No, I mean I have taken hold of your imagination because I am so queer."
"You are queer, Osmond. It"s queer to be so darling."
"If I were sure!" He loosed her hands and looked away from her, and his face set gravely.
"What, Osmond?"
"If I were sure it was fair to you--best for you to let you know the truth--then I"d tell you."
"Tell me what?"
He drew her hands back into his. He was looking at her with the first voluntary yielding of his whole self. It lighted his face into beauty, the chrism of the adoring spirit laid upon trembling lip and flashing eye. "I have withheld from you," he said, in quick, short utterance, "because it had to be. But if you care, too, why deny us both one hour of happiness, if we part to-morrow?"
"Deny me nothing," she was murmuring. "Let me see your heart."
"You should see my soul, if it could be. Dearest, it was so from the first minute. I was afraid of you with the terrible fear of love. Don"t you see how different it is with us? You longed for love because you are the angel of it. I was afraid of it because it would have to mean hunger and pain and thirst."
"But not now! not now! We have found each other, and it means the same thing for both of us."
"We have got to part, you know, for a couple of ages or so, or even till we die. Maybe I can get into some sort of trim by that time, if I give my mind to it; but here it"s no use, dear, you see."
"No use! Osmond, I have given you my love. What do you mean to do with it?"
He caught his breath miserably.
"I am going to--G.o.d! what am I going to do! You are honest," he cried, "you mean it all, but--sweetheart, look at me, and see it is not possible. To-night ends it."
She withdrew her hands from his, and sat upright in her chair.
"Then," she said, "you are a coward."
"Am I?" He looked at her, blanched and sorrowful. "Am I, Rose?"
"You are a coward. You love me--"
"You know it! You do know that!"
"You know you do, and then you refuse to take the simple, sweet, faithful way with me."
"What way, my dear?"
She did not even flush at the words, sprung from a great sincerity.
"Shall I ask you? Shall I ask you to let me take your name and live with you, and be true to you?"
They looked at each other in the terrible recognition that brings souls almost too close.
"You are a great woman, my dear," said Osmond. He rose and stood before her. "Look at me. I hate my body. Could you love it?"
"I do love it," said the woman. "And I love your soul. And I am ashamed to think we can know the things we have known and then think of the bodies we live in. Grannie believes in immortal life. I believe in it too, since I have known you."
"There are a good many hours, my dear, when we forget immortal life. The world goes hard with us. In those times, shall you look at me and hate me?"
She was smiling at him through tears.
"I shall look at you and love you, stupid!" she said. "Oh, how little men know!"