"My ALL," she said. "Oh, Boy dear, my ALL. If I lose you, I lose my ALL."
She walked on slowly, moving to the repet.i.tion of those words. It seemed a comfort to repeat the great fact that, at last, he was this to her. Surely it would reach him, by some sort of wireless telegraphy through s.p.a.ce. Surely it would control cross-currents, keep propellers acting as they should; steering-gear from twisting.
"O G.o.d, he is my ALL--he is my ALL!"
The afternoon sun began to glint through the trees.
The jolly little "what-d"-you-call-"ems" lifted pale anxious faces to the sky.
Clocks all around chimed the hour of four.
Suddenly her limbs weakened. She could walk no longer.
She sank into a chair, beneath the mulberry-tree.
In a few minutes Jenkins would bring out tea. Would Martha have arranged a tea such as the Boy loved, with cups for two, hot b.u.t.tered-toast and explosive buns?
What a boy he was, at heart--this man who had won her; what a gay, laughter-loving boy!
She lay back, very still, under the mulberry-tree, and lived again through each of the Boy"s days, from the first to the sixth.
She kept her eyes closed. The sunlight, glinting through the mulberry leaves, fell in bright patches on her white gown, and on her soft golden hair.
The garden was very still. All nature seemed waiting with the heart that waited.
"_Little Boy Blue, come blow me your horn!_"
"I shall blow it all right on the seventh day," the Boy had said; "and when I do, you will hear it."
This was the seventh day.
Suddenly the horn of a motor tooted loudly in the lane.
She rose, her hands clasped upon her breast, and stood waiting
A shaft of golden sunlight streamed down the garden, and seemed to focus on the postern gate.
Then the gate swung open and the Boy came in, slamming it behind him.
She saw him coming up the lawn toward her, bareheaded; the sunlight in his shining eyes.
"I couldn"t wait for trains," he shouted. "I came by motor. And I jolly well exceeded the speed-limit all the way!"
She moved a few steps to meet him.
"Boy dear," she said, "you always exceed all speed-limits. It is a way you have. Exceed them as much as you like, so long as I am with you when you do it. But--oh, my Little Boy Blue!--don"t fly again; for, if you fall and break your wings, indeed you will break my heart."
In a moment she was sobbing on his breast, her arms flung around him.
There was nothing broken or limp about his strong young body, pulsating with life.
He put his arms about her, holding her in a clasp of close possessive tenderness.
He did not yet understand what had happened; but he knew the great gift he desired had been given him. He waited for her to speak.
She lifted her face to his.
"Guy," she said; "ah, take me, hold me, keep me! I am altogether your own. I will explain to you fully, by and by. The stone was very great; but lo, as we reached it, the Angel of the Lord had rolled it away.... No other man has a shadow of claim over me. I am free to say, to the only man I have ever really loved: Take me; I am yours.
Oh, Boy! I am altogether yours."
He bent over her.
The sweet proud lips were parted in utter surrender, and lifted to his.
He paused--just for one exquisite moment, of realization.
She waited his kiss with closed eyes, so she did not see the radiance of his face, as he looked up to the blue sky, flecked with fleeting white clouds. But she heard the voice, which from that hour was to make the music of her life:
"Thank the Lord," said Little Boy Blue.
Then--he kissed her.
"_And the evening and the morning were the seventh day._"
_List of_
MRS. BARCLAY"S NOVELS
By FLORENCE L. BARCLAY
THE ROSARY
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