Guy was kneeling beside her in a moment, and with one arm thrown around her said tenderly,

“Dexie, you know better.  You know your father loves you and would keep you beside him always if he could.  But he knows that I love you dearly, and he would give me your hand if you gave me your heart.  Do not try to hide it from me any longer, love.  Do you not love me already?” and he bent his head beside her own.  “Lift up your face and tell me, dearest.”

But Dexie could not raise her eyes; she was afraid to believe the sweet words she heard.  Did he really love her, after all!

“Think how long I have loved you, Dexie,” he added, tenderly, “and yet you have never given me one word to encourage me, but have been so cruel—­so cruel!  Dexie, have you nothing to say to me after all this waiting?” and he lifted her head to his arm, saying softly, “If I wounded you to-night by my abrupt announcement, it was unintentionally.  I thought you would guess my meaning; but you would not even look at me.  You will believe me, Dexie, for I did not mean to vex you,” he pleaded earnestly.

Still no answer; but Guy seemed to know intuitively what was in her thoughts, and she no longer shrank from him when he stroked her soft hair and drew her closer to his breast.

“Uncover your face and look at me, dearest.  Did you not know that I cared for you?  Tell me, Dexie.”

“I did think so sometimes,” was the low reply.

“Then what was the reason you were so cool with me?” smiling down into her blushing face.  “Tell me, or I shall believe I know the reason already.”

“If you know, why do you ask?” was the shy reply.

“Because I would like to hear you say it yourself.  Confess it, now, or must I say it myself?”

She endeavored to release herself from his encircling arm, but he held her close as he whispered: 

“You love me already.  You know you do; so own it now.”

A pair of eyes, glorious with the love-light that shone in them, were raised to his, and as he read his answer in their depths, the happy lover whispered,

“Kiss me, Dexie.”

A blushing face was lifted to his, and an arm was raised till it encircled his neck, as Dexie gave her first kiss of love to the man who had won her heart.

“How could you be so cool and short with me when you loved me all the time?” he asked, as he held her in his arms.

“I was not quite sure you cared for me,” was the low reply.  “But I am forgetting papa.  I must go and see if he is all right, Guy.”

It was the first time she had used his name, and he smiled fondly into the dark eyes raised so shyly to meet his own.

“I do not want to let you go from my arms for a minute, darling.  I have been longing for this hour for so long that I am afraid I shall find it all a dream if I once let you go.  Will you come back to me if all is right—­back to my arms, I mean?”