Suddenly a pair of soft round arms were around his neck, and the poem he had just read with such love and tenderness was plucked from his grasp without warning.
Moore sprang to his feet with a low cry of surprise.
"Bessie," he said, incredulously. "You?"
"Don"t you know me?" she asked with a little pout, as Buster, followed by the bulldog, stole discreetly from the room. "Have you forgotten how I look so soon?"
"Forgotten?" he echoed. "Is it likely, Bessie?"
"You seem surprised to see me."
"I can"t deny that," he answered in wonder. "Forgive me if I ask to what I am indebted for this visit?"
"Oh," said Bessie, indifferently, "I came to see if you have written any more poems about the Prince. Tom, how could you do it? He was so fond of you."
"That may be," replied Moore, a.s.suming a dignified air, "but I can"t let friendship interfere with my politics."
"Then it was your duty, Tom?"
"It was my duty," he answered, gloomily.
"I think you were unpardonable," said the girl.
"I see," replied Moore, "you came to reproach me, Bessie."
"What a deceitful fellow you are," she went on, shaking her pretty head in a sad way.
"I am," admitted the poet. "I am. Go on, Bessie, don"t spare me."
She advanced a step or two as he, at a loss to understand why she was thus baiting him, turned bitterly away.
"I can"t spare you," she said sternly.
"So it seems," he murmured, not looking at her, lest the sight of her girlish beauty make the pain in his heart too great to be endured.
"I can"t spare you," she repeated, "I can"t spare you," but this time her tone was one of loving tenderness and he turned to look at her in surprise.
She was standing with outstretched arms, her face eager and adoring, the old light shining soft and clear in her eyes.
"Without you, Tom, there is no happiness for me. Tom dear, Tom darling, can"t you see I "ve come here because I love you?"
"What?" he exclaimed, and then, mindful of past disappointments, he raised his hand imploringly. "You are sure you are not joking this time?"
"Joking?" she repeated, advancing toward him. "Let this a.s.sure you."
As she spoke she kissed him full on the mouth, not once but thrice.
"Now are you convinced I am in earnest?" she asked shyly.
"Partly," he replied, still unable to fully realize that she had surrendered at last. "Convince me some more, Bessie."
Then as she kissed him again, he folded her in his arms and held her to his heart so tightly that she released herself with a little gasp.
"Please remember, sir, that I have to breathe," she remonstrated.
"I forgot everything, except that I had you in my arms," he answered.
"Ah, Bessie darlin", my heart was breaking for you. I love you so much, dearest."
He embraced her again, and pressed her soft cool cheek to his, and it must be admitted she appeared to enjoy this proceeding as much as he did.
"Sure," he whispered, "if heaven is half as sweet as this let me die to-morrow."
"You took the blame to save my father. Oh, Tom, I "ll never forgive you."
"Keep on not forgiving me," he suggested, for she had given him another kiss.
"I made him tell me," said she, complying with his request before sitting down by the table, "but the next day you had gone."
"I know," said Moore, "I went out into the country. It helped me, as it always does. It comforted me, but not as you have done."
"And while you were gone I came here every day to see if you had returned."
"What is that?" he demanded. "You came here, dearest?"
Bessie nodded gleefully.
"I did not miss a day, not even Sunday," she said.
"That little devil of a Buster!" cried Moore, glaring around the attic in quest of him. "The imp! Wait till I lay my hands upon him!"
"He didn"t tell you, Tom?"
"Not a word. If I had known, it is no sight of me the trees and the fields would have had."
Bessie rose from her chair, and stepping back a little distance, looked archly at her lover.
"Have you forgotten what you said?" she asked.
"Since I don"t remember, I think I must have," said Moore puzzled.
"Then I "ll tell you, sir."
"That"s good of you, Bessie," said he.
"You told me I would have to ask you to marry me," she answered, a little timidly. "Tom dear, I love you; will you be my husband?"
"This is so sudden," said Moore, and he sat down in the chair she had vacated.