He came back to Joanne.

She was standing where he had left her.

And suddenly, as he looked at her, all fear went out of him, and he put down the lantern and went to her.
"Joanne," he whispered, holding her two hands against his breast, "you are not afraid ?" "No, I am not afraid." "And you know----" "Yes, I know," and she leaned forward so that her head lay partly against their clasped hands and partly upon his breast.
"And you love me, Joanne ?" "As I never dreamed that I should love a man, John Aldous," she whispered.
"And yet it has been but two days----" "And I have lived an eternity," he heard her lips speak softly.
"You would be my wife ?" "Yes." "To-morrow ?" "If you wanted me then, John." "I thank God," he breathed in her hair.

"And you would come to me without reservation, Joanne, trusting me, believing in me--you would come to me body, and heart, and soul ?" "In all those ways--yes." "I thank God," he breathed again.
He raised her face.

He looked deep into her eyes, and the glory of her love grew in them, and her lips trembled as she lifted them ever so little for him to kiss.
"Oh, I was happy--so happy," she whispered, putting her hands to his face.
"John, I knew that you loved me, and oh! I was fighting so hard to keep myself from letting you know how happy it made me.