“She had no time.”

“I-I am – glad.”

The words were spontaneous and then Honora added,

“You may think it – wrong of me to say that –but this is such a happy house and I-I was afraid that she might – spoil it.”

“As I have no wish for her or for anybody else to do that,” the Duke said, “I was wondering, Honora, if you could care to go to Scotland?”

He saw her look at him in surprise and he explained,

“I have a house in the North of Sutherland which I usually visit in August or September. It is quite comfortable although rather small and you might think it isolated. But at this time of the year there are a lot of salmon in the river and the heather will be just coming into bloom.”

He spoke a little apprehensively and then saw an expression of excitement on Honora’s face as she exclaimed,

“I would love above all places to go to Scotland with you! Papa used to tell me how much he enjoyed being there and – it would be wonderful to see it with you.”

“Then we will go there immediately,” the Duke said, “and certainly the most comfortable way to get there, and the quickest, will be by sea.”

“That would be even more exciting,” Honora agreed. “Oh, thank you for thinking of anything so marvellous!”

The Duke did not relinquish her hand and now, as he held it in both of his, he said,

“Did you mean it when you said just now that it would be wonderful to be in Scotland with me? Am I important to your happiness?”

“But of course you are!” Honora answered. “You have been – so kind and so – understanding these – last few days that I feel – ”

She stopped as if she felt that she was going to say something wrong and the Duke urged her softly,

“I would like you to finish that sentence.”

She shook her head and then he said, still very quietly,

“Look at me, Honora!”

There was just a little pause before she obeyed him and he knew that she was feeling shy.

Yet at the same time a little tremor he could feel coming from her hands told him that, as if for the first time, she was conscious of him as a man.

“Shall I tell you something?” he asked and his voice was very deep.

She was listening, her eyes on his, as he continued,

“You tell me you have been happier these last days than you have ever been before and I feel the same. I think what we have both been feeling, Honora, is the awakening of love.

It was impossible for her to take her eyes from his and, as he saw the colour creeping up her cheeks almost like the dawn creeping up the sky, he thought that it was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen.

Then, as her fingers tightened on his and he knew that she was finding it hard to breathe, he said,