g
its pallid loveliness--pressed them to his lips, to his face; drew them
against his own shoulders--closer, till they fell limply around his
neck.

She uttered a low cry: "Louis!" Then:

"It--it is all over--with us," she faltered. "I--had never thought of
you--this way."

"Can you think of me this way, now?"

"I--can't help it."

"Dearest--dearest--" he stammered, and kissed her unresponsive lips, her
throat, her hair. She only gazed silently at the man whose arms held
her tightly imprisoned.

Under the torn lace and silk one bare shoulder glimmered; and he kissed
it, touched the pale veins with his lips, drew the arm from his neck and
kissed elbow, wrist, and palm, and every slender finger; and still she
looked at him as though dazed. A lassitude, heavy, agreeable to endure,
possessed her. She yielded to the sense of fatigue--to the confused
sweetness that invaded her; every pulse in her body beat its assent,
every breath consented.

"Will you try to care for me, Valerie?"

"You know I will."

"With all your heart?" he asked, trembling.

"I do already."

"Will you give yourself to me?"

There was a second's hesitation; then with a sudden movement she dropped
her face on his shoulder. After a moment her voice came, very small,
smothered:

"What did you mean, Louis?"

"By what--my darling?"

"By--my giving myself--to you?"

"I mean that I want you always," he said in a happy, excited voice that
thrilled her. But she looked up at him, still unenlightened.

"I don't quite understand," she said--"but--" and her voice fell so low
he could scarcely hear it--"I am--not afraid--to love you."

"Afraid!" He stood silent a moment, then: "What did you think I meant,
Valerie? I want you to _marry_ me!"

She flushed and laid her cheek against his shoulder, striving to think
amid the excited disorder of her mind, the delicious bewilderment of
her senses--strove to keep clear one paramount thought from the heavenly
confusion that was invading her, carrying her away, sweeping her into
paradise--struggled to keep that thought intact, uninfluenced, and cling
to it through everything that threatened to overwhelm her.

Her slim hands resting in his, her flushed face on his breast, his words
ringing in her ears, she strove hard, hard! to steady herself. Because
already she knew what her decision must be--what her love for him had
always meant in the days when that love had been as innocent as
friendship. And ev