His manhood
came suddenly to consciousness--he lost all his shyness and fear of
her. She was his--to do what he pleased with! And he pressed her to
him, he half crushed her in his embrace. She closed her eyes, and he
kissed her upon the cheeks and upon the lips; then he heard her voice,
faint and trembling--"Samuel, I love you!" And within him it was like
a great fanfare of trumpets, for wonder and triumph and delirious joy.
Suddenly there came a step in the hall outside. They sprang apart. The
door of the room was open; and for an instant he saw wild terror in
her eyes.
Then she sank down upon her knees. "Oh, Samuel!" she exclaimed. "My
ring!"
"Your ring!" he echoed, dazed.
"My ring!" she said again; then he heard the voice of Mrs. Harris in
the doorway. "Your ring, Miss Gladys?"
"I dropped it," she said; and Samuel sank down upon his knees also.
They sought under the table. "It fell here," she said. "It's my
solitaire."
"It must have rolled," said Mrs. Harris, beginning to search.
"Put your head down and look about, Samuel," commanded Miss Gladys,
and Samuel obeyed; but he did not find any ring.
They continued the search for a minute. Mrs. Harris had come back to
the table; and suddenly she exclaimed, "Here it is!"
"What!" cried the other. "Why, I looked there!"
"It was under the leg of the table," explained the housekeeper.
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