She slipped her arms about his neck.  Her face was burning.  “I will now,” she said.

Yet the moment her lips touched his, the old wild fear came upon her.  She made a backward movement of shrinking.

He caught her to him.  “Daphne!” he said, and kissed her quivering throat.

She did not resist him, but her arms fell apart, and the red blush swiftly died.  When he released her, she fell back a step with eyes fast closed, and in a moment her hands went up as though to shield face and neck from the scorching of a furnace.

He watched her, a slight frown drawing his brows.  The flame still glittered in his eyes, but his mouth was hard.  “Look here, child!  Don’t be silly!” he said.  “If you treat me like a monster, I shall behave like one.  I’m made that way.”

His voice was curt; it held displeasure.  Dinah uncovered her face and looked at him.

“Oh, you’re angry!” she said, in tragic accents.

He laughed at that.  “About as angry as I could get with a piece of thistledown.  But you know, you’re not very wise, my Daphne.  You’ve got it in you to madden me, but it’s a risky thing to do.  Now see here!  I’ve brought you something to make those moss-agate eyes of yours shine.  Can you guess what it is?”

His hand was held out to her.  She laid her own within it with conscious reluctance.  He drew her into the circle of his arm, pressing her to him.

She leaned her head against him with a bewildered sense of self-reproach.  “I’m sorry I’m silly, Eustace,” she murmured “I expect I’m made that way too.  Don’t—­don’t take any notice!”

He touched her forehead lightly with his lips.  “You’ll get over it, sweetheart,” he said.  “It won’t matter so much after we’re married.  I can do as I like with you then.”

“Oh, I shan’t like that,” said Dinah quickly.

His arm pressed her closer.  “Yes, you will.  I’ll give you no end of a good time.  Now, sweetheart, give me that little hand of yours again!  No, the left!  There!  I wonder if it’s small enough.  Rather a loose fit, eh?  How do you like it?”

He was fitting a ring on to the third finger.  Dinah looked and was dazzled.  “Oh, Eustace,—­diamonds!” she said, in an awed whisper.

“The best I could find,” he told her, with princely arrogance.  “I hunted through Bond Street for it this morning.  Will it do?”

“You went up on purpose?  Oh, Eustace!” she laid her cheek with a winning movement against his hand.  “You are too good!  You are much too good!”

He laughed carelessly.  “I’m glad you’re satisfied.  It’s a bond, remember.  You must wear it always—­till I give you a wedding-ring instead.”

She lifted her face and looked at him with shining eyes.  “I shall love to wear it,” she said.  “But I expect I shall have to keep it for best.  Mother wouldn’t let me wear it always.”

“Never mind what your mother says!” he returned.  “It’s what I say that matters now.  We’re going to have you to stay at Willowmount in a few days.  Isabel is arranging it with your mother now.”