I've got you, Juliet!" He lifted her hand, displaying it exultantly,
closely clasped in his. "And what I have--I hold!"
"How clever of you!" said Juliet, and with a swift lithe movement
freed herself.
His arms went round her in a flash. "I'll make you pay for that!" he
vowed. "How dare you, Juliet? How dare you?"
She resisted him for a second, or two, holding him from her,
half-mocking, half in earnest. Then, as his hold tightened, encompassing
her, she submitted with a low laugh, yielding herself afresh to him under
the old apple-tree, in full and throbbing surrender to his love.
But when at last his hold relaxed, when he had made her pay, she took his
hand and pressed a deep, deep kiss into his palm. "That is--a free gift,
Dicky," she said. "And it is worth more than all the having and holding
in the world."
CHAPTER II
FRIENDSHIP
It was on a misty evening of autumn that Vera Fielding entered her
husband's house once more like a bride returning from her wedding-trip.
There was something of the petted air of a bride about her as she came in
on the squire's arm throwing her greetings right and left to the
assembled servants, and certainly there was in her eyes more of the
shining happiness of a bride than they had ever held before.
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