It is the last thing any woman expects, and the one thing to which she is most apt to yield.

And really, despite her fluttered cry of protest, there was something very comforting and dependable about that masculine hug.

Hermione had never before been clasped in a man's arms.

She was a highly kissable person, and women would embrace her readily, but the total absence of any milk-and-water convention about Curtis's method of showing delight at meeting her was at once bewildering and stupefying.
There must be a great deal, too, which does not leap promptly to the eye in the study of such a dry-as-dust subject as psychology, because three of its fixed principles are: "Experience is the process of becoming expert by experiment," "One finds a measure of truth in the naive realism of Common Sense;" and "Action and Reaction are strictly correlative." Applying these tests to the remarkable rapidity of decision and fixity of purpose displayed by Curtis in squeezing the breath out of Hermione, and gazing into her eyes until her proud head bent and sought refuge for a glowing face by hiding it on his breast, it will be noted first, that, for a man who had no experience in love-making, Curtis was quickly becoming expert; secondly, that Common Sense teaches that if one would win a wife one must also woo her; and thirdly, that a wonderfully effective way to obtain a satisfactory response from Hermione was to reveal the educational value of a hug.
At last, then--though not before Hermione's arms had gone around his neck of their own accord, and her lips had met his with a sigh of sheer content--he permitted her to speak.

And of all things in the world she said that which it thrilled him to hear.
"John, dear," she murmured, "we have become husband and wife in a strange, mad way, but, perhaps it is for the best, and I shall try never to give you cause for regret." By this time one hand was firmly braced around her waist, but the other was free to lift her chin until her swimming eyes met his.
"Hermione," he said, "I vowed last night that not all the men and laws in America would tear you from me.