"I have left home for good and all," she said. "I'll tell you
more of this later on, but I have left my father's house with
nothing to my name but the clothes I stand in. I am going to look
for work in the mills to-morrow, but I stopped here to say that
I'm ready to marry you whenever you want me--if you do want me."
Ivory was bewildered, indeed, but not so much so that he failed
to apprehend, and instantly, too, the real significance of this
speech.
He took a couple of long strides, and before Waitstill had any
idea of his intentions he vaulted over the bars and gathered her
in his arms.
"Never shall you go to the mills, never shall you leave my sight
for a single hour again, my one-woman-in-all-the-world! Come to
me, to be loved and treasured all your life long! I've worshipped
you ever since I was a boy; I've kept my heart swept and
garnished for you and no other, hoping I might win you at last."
How glorious to hear all this delicious poetry of love, and to
feel Ivory's arms about her, making the dream seem surer!
"Oh, how like you to shorten the time of my waiting!" he went on,
his words fairly chasing one another in their eagerness to be
spoken
How like you to count on me, to guess my hunger for your love, to
realize the chains that held me back, and break them yourself
with your own dear, womanly hands! How like you, oh, wonderful
Waitstill!"
Ivory went on murmuring phrases that had been lying in his heart
unsaid for years, scarcely conscious of what he was saying,
realizing only that the miracle of miracles had happened.
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