The room was empty when he entered.

A coal fire was crackling in the grate and the lamps were lit, for it was already beginning to grow dark outside.

Alexander did not sit down.

He stood his ground over by the windows until Hilda came in.

She called his name on the threshold, but in her swift flight across the room she felt a change in him and caught herself up so deftly that he could not tell just when she did it.
She merely brushed his cheek with her lips and put a hand lightly and joyously on either shoulder.