That first swift
moment of apparent victory had not been followed by a satisfactory
sequence of progressive steps.

He had sought to wake Alexander out of that sex-lethargy which lay like
a moat between the citadel of her heart and the advantage of suitors.
In that he had succeeded, too well for his liking. Always Alexander
held surprises in store for him, which only maddened him the more,
fanning his passion into a hotter blaze. Now when he sought to press
his initial advantage to a greater conclusiveness, she only told him to
wait and, like Portia judging her lovers, allowed others to come pay
court as well, while over all she reigned with a regal sort of
despotism, encouraging no one more than another.

But she was splendidly, vitally awake.

She still did with joy the things men did, and did them better than
most men, but she was no longer blind to the stronger asset of her
arresting beauty and the effect of its charm.

She realized these newly discovered attributes naively and without
vanity, but now instead of insisting on the equality of a man, she
demanded the homage of a queen.

And though she would have found her world desolate without that tallest
and keenest of her cavaliers, she no longer thought of him as the only
important figure in the world that he had opened to her.

In a somewhat formless and intuitive fashion she felt a slight
undercurrent of distrust for Halloway, which she combated as ungenerous
but could not wholly overcome.

But in constant conflict with these moments of misgiving there were
other, rather wild moments, when the draw and pull of his fascination
seemed invincible. At those times she realized that, should he open
his arms and say, "Come," she would have to go as the iron filing goes
to the magnet. To Alexander the whole world of love was in a nebulous
and constructive state of flux and lava.

But she had by instinct a wary defensiveness, and she was on constant
guard.

"Alexander," said Halloway one day when they were walking together
along the creek-bed between the dark, waxy masses of the rhododendron,
"Hit strikes me right forceable, thet fer a gal thet didn't hev no time
of day fer any man, ye've done swung round mighty suddent. They hangs
'round ye now like bees 'round locust blooms."

"Did ye 'low thet ef I let any come, I'd refuse ter welcome ther
balance?" she inquired and he retorted with more heat than he usually
allowed himself. "Most women contrives te