ent he almost wondered whether she had
discovered that the chamber had some second outlet, whether she had not
escaped while he had been speaking. But he looked round and he saw
only dense darkness. She must be there still, close to him, hearing
everything he said, whether against her will or with it. He was being
perfectly sincere, and he was feeling very deeply, with intensity. But
out of his natural reserve now rose a fear--the fear that perhaps his
voice, his speech, did not convey his sincerity to her. If she should
mistake him! If she should fancy he was trying to play upon her emotions
in order to win her away from some desperate resolve. He longed to
make her see what he was feeling, feel what he was feeling, be him and
herself for one moment. And now the darkness began to distract him. He
wanted light. He wanted to see Hermione, to see which of the women in
her faced him, which was listening to him.

"Hermione," he said, "I want you--I want--it's hateful speaking like
this, always in the darkness. Don't make me feel all the time that I am
holding you a prisoner. No, I can't--I won't bear that any more."

He moved suddenly from the doorway back into the room behind him, in
which there was a very little, very faint light. There he waited.

Almost immediately the tall shadow which had disappeared into the
darkness emerged from it, passed before him, and went into the central
chamber of the palace. He followed it, and found Hermione standing by
the great doorway that overlooked the sea. Hermione she was, no longer
a shadow, but the definite darkness of a human form relieved against the
clear but now moonless night. She was waiting. Surely she was waiting
for him. She might have escaped, but she stayed. She was willing, then,
to hear what he had to say, all he had to say.

He stood still at a little distance from her. But in this hall the
sound of the sea which came from the chamber on the left was much more
distinct and disturbing than in the chamber where she had hidden. And he
came nearer to her, till he was very near, almost close to her.

"If you hated me for--once, when we were standing on the terrace, you
said, 'Take care--or I shall hate you for keeping me in the dark.' If
you hated me because of what I have done, with Gaspare, Hermione, I
could bear it. I could bear it, because I think it would pass away. We
did keep you in the dark. Now you know it. But you know our reason,
and that it was a reason of