The girl in the blue dress (28 page)

"C-couldn't I?" stammered Beverley, wondering
bewilderedly what had happened to the seemingly insurmountable problem which
had accompanied her into the house. "You mean, you're not angry? or resent
ful?"

"Good heavens, why should I be either? You
chose
me, you say. I'd have been wild if
you'd chosen anyone else. But, as it was, I seemed the natural answer to
your
difficulty, which means that you knew me and
trusted
me and perhaps already loved me better than anyone else."

"Oh, Franklin, " she smiled slowly and
put her hand against his cheek, "I suppose you're right, I never thought
of that."

"I shall often think of it, " he replied
with satisfaction. "Even long after we're married."

She caught her breath at the
word.
"Are we really going to be married?"

"Well, of course. What
else do you think all this
scene has
meant?" he enquired.

"I don't know. It's just that, " she
glanced round, "it's all so different from anything I've ever known before.
I feel a little lost."

"You don't need to." And, smiling, he
took her hand and led her up to the picture of the child in the blue and white
dress.

"Look well at yourself, my darling, " he
said, "and you'll see that you are completely at home. You have lived with
me for years. You know all my moods, all my faults and any good points I
possess. You are my best friend and my sternest critic, for you always look gravely,
though sweetly, at me if I fail to come up to expectations. In fact, the only
place for you is in my
home and my
heart."

And, while the younger Beverley looked on m wide-eyed
approval, he took the Beverley he had just won into his arms, and banished her
last doubts and anxieties with a long, firm kiss.