"Neither do I." Roger stroked her hair, the old tenderness moving him.
"And since neither of us do," he said after a moment, with a smile, "I
guess we won't."
Anne answered his smile weakly. "Roger, I don't believe it is right
just to sit up here keeping the 'house like a jewel-box' and looking
after Rogie. I'm going to work."
"What?" Roger had never very clearly heard when Anne looked like that,
and she had not looked like that for a long time.
"I--am--going--to work," Anne repeated with exaggerated distinctness,
and laughed.
"Oh, you are, are you? Who said you could?"
"Myself. And you--in a minute."
"Oh, I will? That depends. I won't have you drudging in some office."
"No? How about that extra stenographer Katya's looking for?"
"Anne!"
"Don't you think I could do it? I don't believe I've lost much speed.
I----"
But Roger's kiss silenced her and Anne did not try to finish. At last
he loosed her.
"Do you really want to do this, sweetheart?"
Anne turned her eyes away. "Yes, Rogie's old enough to leave now and I
believe Mrs. Horton would be glad of the place. I would get a salary, I
suppose--enough to pay her."
Roger grinned. "You would--most of the time, anyhow. How much would she
do it for, do you think?"
"How much would I get?"
"Eighteen or so."
"That would be plenty--more than she would ask. I'll talk it over with
her to-morrow. You would really like it?"
"Anne! There's nothing in the world I would like so much. Why
I--I--thought lots of times of asking you just that thing."
Remembering his reason for not doing it, Roger, too, looked into the
fire, his arms still close about Anne.
But Anne did not press for the reason of his silence. Against the long
evening alone with Merle's words singing in her ears--"Wait and see.
It'll get him yet"--his hold was strong and full of comfort.
Suddenly Anne gripped him close and kissed him, as she had kissed on
the Bluff, her lips seeking fiercely, through his, the thing beyond
them both.