While she wept the bell rang.  When she did not answer it, it rang again, and after an interminable pause the footsteps of Miss Amelia were heard descending the stairs.  Then the door opened and shut, the footsteps began their slow ascent of the stairs, and after an eternity of silence, she knew that George had entered the room.

Wiping her eyes on the ruffle of the sofa pillow, she sat up and faced him, while her pride hardened again.

“Gabriella, I have come back.”

“I see you have,” she answered coldly, and choked over a sob.

“What are you crying about, Gabriella?”

“I—­I have a headache.”

“Have you thought about me at all to-day?”

“A little.”

He laughed softly, the laugh of a conqueror.

“I’m glad at least that I didn’t give you the headache.”

“You didn’t.  I had it anyway.”

He was radiant, he was as fresh as the wind.  Never in his life had he looked so gay, so handsome, so kind.  His blue eyes were brimming with light.  The mere fact of being alive appeared to fill him with ecstasy.  And she loved him for his gaiety, for his lightness, for the ease with which he took for granted her unchangeable love.  She longed with all her soul and body to prove this love by a surrender more complete than any she had made in the past.  She longed to say:  “I am yours to do with as you please, and nothing in the universe matters but you and my love for you.”  The very core of her nature longed to say this to him; but her indomitable pride, which even passion could not overcome, kept her sitting there in silence while she felt that her heart was bursting with happiness.

“Have you thought it over, Gabriella?”

She nodded.  To save her life, she felt, she could not utter a word without sobbing.

“And you have absolutely and finally decided to have your way?”

This time she shook her head, but the tears fell on her cheeks and she did not brush them away.  From his voice she knew that she had triumphed, but there was no delight in the knowledge.  She did not want to triumph; she wanted only to yield to him and to make him happy by yielding.

“O George!” she cried suddenly, and held out her arms to him.

As he looked down at her his expression changed suddenly to one of intense sadness.  From his face, which had grown pale, he might have been contemplating the Eternal Verities, though, in reality, he was considering nothing more exalted than the dreary prospect of a lifetime spent in the society of Mrs. Carr.

Then, as Gabriella enfolded him, he laughed softly.  He had given in, but he knew in the very instant of his defeat that he should some day turn it to victory.

CHAPTER V

THE NEW WORLD