The Dark Stranger (33 page)

Suddenly the anger was back in his eyes.

“
Of course I
’
m in love with you, you little fool!
”
he said roughly.
“
You don
’
t suppose my only reason for marrying you is to give you a home, or alternatively, to pick a wife for the strange motives you think common to all Pentreaths?
”

Her eyes were bewildered.

“
But how could I think anything else?
”
she asked and the beating of her own heart seemed to her as loud as the ticking of the many clocks.
“
You never made love to me or—or even kissed me until
th
at moment when you did it in a rage.
”

He took her face between his bandaged hands arid his eyes were gentle again and his mouth inexpressibly tender.

“
But, my darling, the only reason I didn
’
t make love to you at first was because I felt I
’
d rather forced the situation on you. I thought if I made no demands it might convince you in time that I wasn
’
t simply the pirate you
’
ve always thought me. Did you never understand that you
’
ve always been precious to me?
”

“
The cuckoo
...
”
she said slowly
“...
building a hedge round the cuckoo to hold fast to the spring
...
long
ago you said that to me
...”

He drew her up into his arms and his mouth was gentle as never before on hers.

“
That should have told you,
”
he said.
“
I was the one to be afraid, not you, sweetheart. Only a week ago I thought you were going to ask me to release you. Could a marriage work, you asked me, when one was unsure and in the dark.
”

“
And you,
”
she answered, resting her head in the crook of his shoulder,
“
said yes as long as one didn
’
t expect too much. I thought it was a warning.
”

“
I was thinking of myself when I gave that advice,
”
he said.
“
I hoped in time you
’
d come to love me, Tina, but I didn
’
t expect miracles at once.
”

“
Miracles are really very simple,
”
she sighed.
“
They happen in spite of you and all in a minute.
”

“
Yes, perhaps that
’
s true. I think I must have loved you when you were sixteen, and I saw you for the first time by the magnolia tree stretching out your hands to catch the blossom. I wanted to give you all the things I
’
d missed, and make safe some place for you to lay your affections
...
”

She turned her lips to the dark cheek so near her own. The doubts and the long troubled months were no more than pale ghosts to vanish in the sunlight. Had he not been there all the time, the dark stranger of her fortune?

“
Home is where you belong you told me once,
”
he said, his hands at her breast.
“
That should have come true for you at last.
”

“
Home is also where the heart is and that is here and now and forever as long as you live,
”
she answered.

The burnt-out wood on the hearth crumbled to a pyramid of fine ash and all the clocks in the room began to strike the hour, one after another.

THE END