How could this be Gilbert? It was Gilbert. Because his eyes met hers and changed for her. It was Gilbert. And with that the dark fell in. Mr John Brown, who was Gilbert Denny, stepped forward and caught her in his free arm. Then he put the candle down on the stair behind him and held her close. She came back out of that darkness to Gilbert’s voice and Gilbert’s kiss, and for a moment she did not know where she was. He had pulled to the outer door, and there was dusk, and candle-light, and Gilbert. And Gilbert was alive. These were living arms that held her, and a living heart that was beating against her own. She lifted up her lips to his and kissed him with all the anguish of her widowhood and a joy that broke her heart. There was a time that passed, and then he said, “I was coming to you to-night, but I can’t come like this.” It was Gilbert’s own voice, gentle and a little quizzical, but it was more moved than even she had ever heard it.
