University of Virginia Library

19. XIX

It was about four o'clock that afternoon that Fairfax Cary ran up the front steps of the Hunnewells' house. When he entered the hall the air was vibrant with the rich chords of the "Nocturne in F." He stood for a moment drinking in its tender harmonies. Wave after wave of the music passed over him, pulsing through his veins into his heart, until at last it seemed as if his soul had been washed white from the prison taint which, even after he left the Tombs, had hovered over him with a sickening sense of impurity.

Stronger and more penetrating rose the music, with its swelling chords and haunting melody. Fairfax pushed aside the portieres and stepped into the room. The music stopped abruptly, and Betty, with a little cry, rose from the piano. Her face turned very white.

"I didn't know — " she faltered.

He strode across the room and caught her in his arms.

"My dear, my dear!" she sobbed, clinging to him.

He held her to him, and kissed her hungrily with the pent-up passion of long months of waiting. When he half released her to gaze into her eyes, he found them full of tears.

"Darling," he expostulated, "you're crying!"

The tears overflowed, and Betty buried her face in his shoulder.

"Of course I am!" she cried.

"Will you tell me why?"

"I haven't had time to cry in weeks," answered Betty tremulously. "You don't suppose I could stop to cry when there was anything to do, do you?"

Cary's arms tightened around her, and he tenderly kissed the drops away.

"My darling!" he whispered. "Tell me that you love me! "

But she pushed him away with a tremulous little laugh.

"I've been telling you so for weeks. If you don't believe it now, you never will!"

She took his hand and led him to the sofa.

"I sha'n't feel sure of you until we're married," answered Fairfax. "We can be very soon, can't we, dear?"

"I told you in France that I wouldn't marry any one till father's name had been cleared."

"Darling, it has been! Jim Murphy, your father's stable-boy, came to see me this morning. He saw Norman dope Steadfast before the Withers race. Jim will swear to it in court."

"Norman!" exclaimed Betty. "How dreadful!"

"Molly was with him, and it was after her threat to expose the whole thing that he killed her."

"How ghastly, Fairfax! How perfectly dreadful! Poor Uncle George!"

"So now, darling, you won't keep me waiting any longer, will you?"

Betty snuggled closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder.

"I'm ready now, as far I can be," she whispered softly. "I can't get a big trousseau, Fairfax. You know why, don't you, dear? I haven't a cent in the world. Do you realize that you're getting a penniless bride?"

She raised troubled eyes and anxiously studied his face.

Fairfax laughed boyishly.

"Really?" he teased. "Then I can't marry you, my pretty maid!"

"I hate you!" and Betty pressed her lips to his.