“It’s me, Loftus—­I’m back again—­I’m with you again,” said a voice which thrilled him.

The girl in gray flung her arms around his neck, and laid her head of red gold on his breast.

“Good God!  Nina!  Josephine!  Where have you come from?  I was thinking of you only tonight.  It’s a year since we met.  Where have you sprung from?  Out of the sky, or the earth?  Look at me, witch, look in my face!”

He put his hand under her chin, raised her very fair oval face; (the moonlight fell full on it—­he could see it well); he looked long and hungrily into her eyes, then kissed her eagerly several times.

“Where have you come from?” he repeated.  “My God! to think I was walking to meet you in such a calm fashion this evening.”

“You never were very calm, Loftie, nor was I. Feel my heart—­I am almost in a tempest of joy at meeting you again.  I knew you’d be glad.  You couldn’t help yourself.”

“I’m glad and I’m sorry.  You know you intoxicate me, witch—­I thought I had got over that old affair.  What:  don’t flash your eyes at me.  Oh, yes, Nina, I am glad, I am delighted to see you once again.”

“And to kiss me, and love me again?”

“Yes, to kiss you and love you again.”

“How soon will you marry me, Loftie?”

“We needn’t talk about that to-night.  Tell me why you have come, and how.  Where is your grandfather?  Do you still sing in the streets for a living?”

“Hush, you insult me.  I am a rich girl now.”

“You rich?  What a joke!”

“No, it is a reality.  Riches go by comparison, and Josephine Hart has an income—­therefore she is rich compared to the Josephine who had none.  When will you marry me, Loftie?”

“Little puss!  We’ll talk of that another day.”

He stroked her cheek, put his arm around her waist and kissed her many times.

“You have not told me yet why you came here,” he said.

She laughed.

“I came here because my own sweet will directed me.  I have taken rooms here at this lodge.  The man called Tester and his wife will attend on me.”

“Good gracious! at my mother’s very gates Is that wise, Nina.”

“Wise or unwise I have done it.”

“To be near me?”

“Partly.”

“Nina, you half frighten me.  You are not going to do me an injury?  It will prejudice my mother seriously if she finds out my—­my—­”

“Your love for me,” finished Josephine.

“Yes.”

“Why will it prejudice her?”

“Need I—­must I tell you?  My mother is proud; she—­she would almost disown me if I made a mesalliance.”

Nina flung back her head.

“You talk like a boy,” she said.  “When you marry me you save, not degrade, yourself.  Ah, I know a secret.  Such a secret!  Such a blessed, blessed, happy secret for me.  It is turning me into a good girl.  It causes my heart to sing.  When I think of it I revel in delight; when I think of it I could dance:  when I remember it I could shout with exultation.”