“And what about yours?” she said.

“Mine!” He smiled rather bitterly.  “Well, I’ve never expected much of life.  I’ve stuck to my independence and been satisfied with that.  He’d have bossed my destiny if I’d have let him.  But I wouldn’t.  I was cussed on that point, though if it hadn’t been for Robin, I shouldn’t have bothered.  I stayed on here for the boy’s sake.  He wouldn’t have been happy anywhere else.  Well,” he uttered a weary sigh, “that chapter’s closed.”

She pressed his arm.  “Dick, we might never have met but for that.”

“Oh, we might have met,” he said.  “But—­you’d probably have detested me—­under any other circumstances.”

She smiled at him with a touch of wistfulness.  “And you me, Dick.  Neither of us would have looked below the surface if we’d met in the general hurly-burly.  We shouldn’t have had time.  So we have a good deal to be thankful for, haven’t we?”

He drew her to him again.  The desperate misery had passed from his face, but he looked worn out.  “What on earth should I do without you?” he said.

“I don’t know, dear,” she answered tenderly.  “I hope you are not going to try any longer, are you?”

His lips were near her own.  “Juliet, will you stay—­within reach—­till after the funeral?”

“Yes,” she breathed.

“And then—­then—­will you—­marry me?” His whisper was even lower than hers.  The man’s whole being pulsed in the words.

Her arms went round his neck.  “I will, dearest.”

His breath came quickly.  “And if—­if—­later—­you come upon some things that hurt you—­things you don’t understand—­will you remember how I’ve been handicapped—­and—­forgive me?”

Her eyes looked straight up to his.  They held a shadowy smile.  “Dick,—­I was just going—­to say that—­to you!”

He pressed her to his heart.  “Ah, my Juliet!” he said.  “Could anything matter to us—­anything on earth—­except our love?”

In the deep silence her lips answered his.  There was no further need for words.

PART IV

CHAPTER I

THE FREE GIFT

“I’m not quite sure that I call this fair play,” said Saltash with a comical twist of the eyebrows.  “I didn’t expect all these developments in so short a time.”

“There are no further rules to this game,” said Juliet, squeezing Columbus around his sturdy shoulders as he sat on the bench beside her.  “Whoever wins—­or loses—­no one has any right to complain.”

She spoke without agitation, but her face was flushed, and there was something about the clasp of her arm that made Columbus look up with earnest affection.

“If that’s so,” said Saltash, “I can withdraw my protection without compunction.”

She smiled.  “No doubt you can, most puissant Rex!  But it really wouldn’t answer your purpose.  You’ve nothing to gain by treachery to a friend, and it would give you a horrid taste afterwards.”