With a little cry she crept into them; and he pressed her to his heart. At
that moment enemies, danger, death, were forgotten. For Noreen her whole
world lay within the circle of his arms.
"Do you really, really love me?" she asked wonderingly.
He held her very close to his heart and looked fondly, tenderly down into
the lovely upturned face.
"Love you, my dearest? I love you with all my heart, my soul, my being," he
whispered. "How could I help loving you?"
And bending down he kissed her fondly.
"It's all so wonderful," she murmured. "I didn't think that you cared for
me, that you could ever care. You seemed so far away, too occupied with
important things to spare a thought for me. So serious a person, and
sometimes so stern, that I was afraid of you."
He laughed amusedly.
"The wonder is that you ever came to care for me. You do care, don't you,
beloved?"
She looked up at him earnestly.
"Dear, do I seem forward, bold? But our time together is too short for
pretence. Yes, I do care. I love you? I seem to have always loved you. Or
at least to have waited always to love you. I don't think I knew what love
was until now. Until now. Now I do know."
She paused and stared across the room, seeing the vision of her childhood,
her girlhood. From outside came intermittent shouts and an occasional
random shot.
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