"You, on this side of the door, waiting
to face the ogre Me, couldn't have felt much worse than I felt on my
side, not knowing what I should see--or do. Darling, one more kiss for
my people's sake, one more for myself, and then I must take you to them.
It's not fair to keep them waiting any longer. But no--first I must put
a ring on the Girl's finger--as I hoped to do long ago. You
remember--the ring of my bet, that almost made me lose you? I told you
about it, didn't I, on our day together, when I thought I should come
back in two weeks?"
"You told me you hoped not to lose a thing you wanted. You didn't say it
was a ring. But at Royalieu--the newspaper correspondents' chateau near
Compiegne--we came across a friend of yours, the one you made the bet
with----"
"Jack Curtis!"
"Yes. He told me about the ring. And he was sure you were alive."
"Good old Jack! Well, now I'm going to slip that magic ring on your
darling finger--the 'engaged' finger."
"But where is it?"
"The finger? Just now on the back of my neck, which it's making
throb--like a star!... Oh, the _ring_? That's in the hobby-horse which I
see over there, as large as life. At least, it's in him unless, unlike a
leopard, he's changed his spots."
Jim wouldn't let me go, but drew me with him, our arms interlaced, to
the tower end of the room where the hobby-horse he had once rescued from
fire endlessly pranced. "This used to be my bank, when I was a little
chap," he said.
Pages:
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384