And what he said with his voice is immaterial--it was what his eyes replied that the woman caught.

What he said was, "Well, just for a minute, Colonel," and the party walked up the steps of the veranda, and Bob and Molly and the colonel sat down.
Mrs.Culpepper stood for a moment and then said, "Well, Bob, you must excuse me--I forgot to set my sponge, and there isn't a bit of bread in the house for Sunday." Whereupon she left them, and when the colonel had talked himself out he left them, and when the two were alone there came an awkward silence.

In the years they had been apart a thousand things had stirred in their hearts to say at this time, yet all their voices spoke was, "Well, Molly ?" and "Well, Bob ?" The moon was in their faces as it shone through the elm at the gate.

The man turned his chair so that he could look at her, and after satisfying his eyes he broke the silence with, "Seven years." And she returned, "Seven years the thirteenth of April." The man played a tune with his fingers and a foot and said nothing more.

The woman finally spoke.