She stood for a moment, afraid to move, lest she
should startle him, and he should call out, for the slightest
noise about the place would bring Godfrey down. The next moment,
however, Tom, aware of her presence, sprang to his feet, and,
turning, bounded to her, and took her in his arms. Still
possessed by the one terror of making a noise, she did not object
even by a contrary motion, and, when he took her hand to lead her
away out of sight of the house, she yielded at once.
When they were safe in the field behind the hedge--
"Why did you make me come down, Tom?" she whispered, half choked
with fear, looking up in his face, which was radiant in the
moonshine.
"Because I could not bear it one day longer," he answered. "All
this time I have been breaking my heart to get a word with you,
and never seeing you except at church, and there you would never
even look at me. It is cruel of you, Letty. I know you could
manage it, if you liked, well enough. Why should you try me so?"
"Do speak a little lower, Tom: sound goes so far at night!--I
didn't know you would want to see me like that," she answered,
looking up in his face with a pleased smile.
"Didn't know!" repeated Tom. "I want nothing else, think of
nothing else, dream of nothing else. Oh, the delight of having
you here all alone to myself at last! You darling Letty!"
"But I must go directly, Tom.
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