g whom can you trust?"

"I know--I know!"

But again she was silent. If Seymour only knew how near he perhaps was
to his greatest desire's fulfilment! If he only knew the conflict which
was raging in her! At one moment she was on the edge of giving in, and
flinging herself into prison and safety. At another she recoiled. How
much did Seymour know of her? How well did he understand her?

"You said just now that you had sometimes been hard on me in your mind,"
she said abruptly. "What about?"

"That's all long ago."

"How long ago?"

"Years and years."

"Ten years?"

"Yes--quite."

"You have--you have respected me for ten years?"

"And loved you for a great many more."

"Never mind about love! You have respected me for ten years."

"Yes, Adela."

"Tell me--have you loved me more since you have been able to respect
me?"

"I think I have. To respect means a great deal with me."

"I must have often disgusted you very much before ten years ago. I
expect you have often wondered very much about me, Seymour?"

"It is difficult to understand the great differences between your own
temperament and another's, of course."

"Yes. How can faithfulness be expected to understand its opposite? You
have lived like a monk, almost, and I--I have lived like a courtesan."

"Adela!"

His deep voice sounded terribly hurt.

"Oh, Seymour, you and I--we have always lived in the world. We know all
its humbug by heart. We are both old--old now, and why should we pretend
to each other? You know how lots of us have lived, no one better. And I
suppose I have been one of the worst. But, as you say, for ten years now
I have behaved myself."

She stopped. She longed to say, "And, my God, Seymour, I am sick of
behaving myself!" That would have been the naked truth. But even to him,
after what she had just said, she could not utter it. Instead, she added
after a moment:

"A great many lies have been lifted up as guiding lamps to men in the
darkness. One of them is the saying: 'Virtue is its own reward.' I have
behaved for ten years, and I know it is a lie."

"Adela, what is exasperating you to-day? Can't you tell me?"

Once more she looked at him with a sharp and intense scrutiny. She
thought it was really a final look, and one that was to decide her fate;
his too, though he did not know it. She knew his worth. She knew the
value of the dweller in his temple, and had no need to debate about
that. But she was one of those to w