'Nix on the 'abandoned creature,'' he said with dignity. 'You're on the
wrong wire! This here lady is my affianced wife!'
He went to Mamie and, putting his arm round her waist, pressed her to
him. He was conscious, as he did so, of a sensation of wonderment at
himself. This was the attitude he had dreamed of a thousand times and
had been afraid to assume. For the last three years he had been
picturing himself in precisely this position, and daily had cursed the
lack of nerve which had held him back. Yet here he was, and it had all
happened in a moment. A funny thing, life.
'What!' exclaimed Mrs. Porter.
'Sure thing,' said Steve. His coolness, the ease with which he found
words astonished him as much as his rapidity of action.
'I stole the kid,' he said, 'and it was my idea at that. Kirk didn't
know anything about it. I wired to him to-day what I had done and that
he was to come right along. And,' added Steve in a burst of
inspiration, 'I said bring along Mamie, too, as the kid's used to her
and there ought to be a woman around. And she could be here, all right,
and no harm, she being my affianced wife.' He liked that phrase. He had
read it in a book somewhere, and it was the goods.
He eyed Mrs. Porter jauntily. Mrs. Porter's gaze wavered. She was not
feeling comfortable. Hers was a nature that did not lend itself easily
to apologies, yet apologies were obviously what the situation demanded.
The thought of all the eloquence which she had expended to no end added
to her discomfort. For the first time she was pleased that Kirk had so
manifestly not been listening to a word of it.
'Oh!' she said.
She paused.
'That puts a different complexion on this affair.'
'Betcha life!'
She paused once more. It was some moments before she could bring
herself to speak. She managed it at last.
'I beg your pardon,' she said.
'Mine, ma'am?' said Steve grandly. Five minutes before, the idea that
he could ever speak grandly to Lora Delane Porter would have seemed
ridiculous to him; but he was surprised at nothing now.
'And the young wom...... And the future Mrs. Dingle's,' said Mrs. Porter
with an effort.
'Thank you, ma'am,' said Steve, and released Mamie, who forthwith
bolted from the room like a scared rabbit.
Steve had started to follow her when Mrs. Porter, magnificent woman,
snatching what was left from defeat, stopped him.
'Wait!' she said. 'What you have said alters the matter in one respect;
but there is another point. On your own confession you have been guilty
of the extremely serious offence, the penal offence of kidnapping a
child who...'
'Drop me a line about it, ma'am,' said Steve. 'Me time's rather full
just now.'
He disappeared into the outer darkness after Mamie.
* * * * *
In the room they had left, Kirk and Ruth faced each other in silence.
