he said, "let us once and for all understand one another."

"What?" he said. "Don't you understand me yet? Don't you
realise--yet--that when a man of my stamp wants a woman he--takes her?"

Again there throbbed in his voice that deep note of savagery, such
savagery as made her quail. But it was no moment for shrinking. She knew
instinctively that at the first sign of weakness he would take her back
into his arms.

She straightened herself therefore, summoning all her pride. "Do you
really think I am the sort of woman to be taken so?" she asked. "Do you
really think I am yours for the taking? If so, then you have never known
me. Nor--till this moment--have I known you."

He heard her without the faintest hint of astonishment or shame, standing
before her with that careless animal grace of his that made him in some
fashion superb.

"Yes," he said, "I really do think you are mine for the taking this time,
but you will admit I've been patient. And I've taken the trouble to make
things easy for you. I've spirited you away without putting you through
any ordeals of hesitation or suspense. I've done it all quite
unobtrusively. To-morrow we go to London, after that to Paris, and after
that--whithersoever you will--anywhere under the sun where we can be
alone. As to knowing each other"--his voice changed subtly, became soft,
with something of a purring quality--"we have all our lives before us,
and we shall be learning every day."

His absolute assurance struck her dumb. There was something implacable
about it, something unassailable--a stronghold which she felt powerless
to attack.

"Doesn't that programme attract you?" he said, drawing nearer to her.
"Can you suggest a better? The whole world is before us. Shall we go
exploring, you and I, alone in the wilds, and find some Eden that no man
has ever trodden before? Shall we, Anne? Shall we? Right away from
everywhere, somewhere in the sun, where I can teach you to be happy and
you can teach me to be--good."

But at his movement she moved also, drawing back. "No!" she said. Her
voice was low, but not lacking in strength. Having spoken, she went on
almost without effort. "You are building upon a false foundation. If it
were not so, I don't think I could possibly forgive you. As it is, I
think when you realise your mistake you will find it hard to forgive
yourself. I have treated you as a friend because I thought I could do so
with safety. I thought for the sake of my fri