A hot wave of feeling went through him at her words. He crushed her to
him, feeling the quick beat of her heart against his own, the throbbing
surrender of her whole being to his. He kissed her burningly, with such
a passion of devotion as had never before moved him.

She laughed rapturously. "Isn't it great, Billikins?" she said. "And I'd
have missed it all if it hadn't been for you. Just think--if I hadn't
jumped--before the safety-curtain--came--down!"

She was speaking between his kisses, and eventually they stopped her.

"Don't think," he said; "don't think!"

It was the beginning of a new era, the entrance of a new element into
their lives. Perhaps till that night he had never looked upon her wholly
in the light of wife. His blind passion for her had intoxicated him.
She had been to him an elf from fairyland, a being elusive who offered
him all the magic of her love, but upon whom he had no claims. But from
that night his attitude towards her underwent a change. Very tenderly he
took her into his own close keeping. She had become human in his eyes,
no longer a wayward sprite, but a woman, eager-hearted, and his own. He
gave her reverence because of that womanhood which he had only just
begun to visualize in her. Out of his passion there had kindled a
greater fire. All that she had in life she gave him, glorying in the
gift, and in return he gave her love.

All through the days that followed he watched over her with unfailing
devotion--a devotion that drew her nearer to him than she had ever been
before. She was ever responsive to his mood, keenly susceptible to his