Suddenly he stood still and looked at her.

“Let’s find a cab and get down to that bally boat for the baggage.  Oh, bother the baggage!  My darling, I want you alone.  You stood there so quiet and still, looking just like a little girl being very, very good.  Oh, my dear, you’re a damned sight too good for me.  Lord, I’ll feed myself to the sharks in the harbour if ever I hurt you!  What luck to find you!  What amazing, gorgeous luck!  Me—­the waster, the unwanted, the do-nothing.  Marcella—­Lord, what’s the use of words?  I’m getting your trick of not being able to find words for what I mean.  But you wait.  Just you wait.  There’s a new Louis born to-night, in a funny little Nonconformist chapel.  Look at him, girlie—­can’t you see he’s different?”

They found a cab and drove down to the quay again.  Heedless of the people in the streets he kissed her again and again and did not stop talking for an instant.

“You know, the very fact of being married alone is going to do wonders for me.  It’s going to give me a grip on things.  I’ve been an outcast, dear—­I’ve never known, when I’ve been this side of the world, where my next bed or my next meal is coming from.  But to have a wife—­and we’ll have a home and everything—­why, you can’t think what it means.”

When they reached the quay he left Marcella in the cab, telling her he would only be two minutes.  She watched him vanish in the shadow of the Customs shed.  A moment later he was back.

“I hate to leave you, even for a minute.  I must have one more kiss.  Oh, my darling, if you could only guess what it means to me to know that you love me, that you are waiting here for me.  You’ve never been a throwout, a waster, or you’d realize just what you mean to me.”

Then he was gone, and she lay back, her eyes closed, dreaming.  She felt very safe, very secure.

It seemed a long time that he was gone, but she was accustomed to going thousands of miles in her dreams, only to find, wakening suddenly, that the clock had only measured five minutes.  But at last she realized that it really was a long time.  The horse began to paw and fidget; the driver, smoking a very reeking pipe, looked in at the window.

“D’you think your boss’ll be long?” he asked.

“How long has he been?” she asked.

“More’n half an hour.  I’ve got some folks to take to the theatre, but I’m afraid I’ll have to give them a miss if he don’t hurry hisself.”

“I wonder if you’d go and see, please?” she asked doubtfully.  “You see, we’ve only just been married to-day and I feel so silly—­the people on board are sure to start making a big fuss if I go—­”

“Right-o, ma.  I’ll go,” he said, and made off across the quay.  He, too, was gone a long while; the horse got more fidgety, but at last he appeared, carrying two of Louis’s bags.

He grinned as he came up to the cab.

“He’s a lad!” he said genially.  “Would make me stop an’ wet the wedding.  But it do seem hard to me for the bride to be out of all the fun.  Why don’t you go an’ wet it, too, ma?”