ontemptuous laugh.

'Darling!' he murmured. 'You are more than a woman.'

'I hope not.' And I laughed again, but unnaturally.

He had risen; I leaned back in a large cushioned chair; we looked at
each other in silence--a silence that throbbed with the heavy pulse of an
unutterable and complex emotion--pleasure, pain, apprehension, even
terror. What had I done? Why had I, with a word--nay, without a word,
with merely a gesture and a glance--thrown my whole life into the
crucible of passion? Why did I exult in the tremendous and impetuous act,
like a martyr, and also like a girl? Was I playing with my existence as
an infant plays with a precious bibelot that a careless touch may
shatter? Why was I so fiercely, madly, drunkenly happy when I gazed into
those eyes?

'I suppose I must go,' he said disconsolately.

I nodded, and the next instant the clock struck.

'Yes,' he urged himself, 'I must go.'

He bent down, put his hands on the arms of the chair, and kissed me
violently, twice. The fire that consumes the world ran scorchingly
through me. Every muscle was suddenly strained into tension, and then
fell slack. My face flushed; I let my head slip sideways, so that my left
cheek was against the back of the chair. Through my drooping eyelashes I
could see the snake-like glitter of his eyes as he stood over me. I
shuddered and sighed. I was like someone fighting in vain against the
sweet seduction of an overwhelming and fatal drug. I wanted to entreat
him to go away, to rid me of the exquisite and sinister enchantment. But
I could not speak. I shut my eyes. This was love.

The next moment I heard the soft sound of his feet on the carpet. I
opened my eyes. He had stepped back. When our glances met he averted his
face, and went briskly for his overcoat, which lay on the floor by the
piano. I rose freed, re-established in my self-control. I arranged his
collar, straightened his necktie with a few touches, picked up his hat,
pushed back the crown, which flew up with a noise like a small explosion,
and gave it into his hands.

'Thank you,' he said. 'To-morrow morning, eh? I shall get to know
everything necessary before I come. And then we will fix things up.'

'Yes,' I said.

'I can let myself out,' he said.

I made a vague gesture, intended to signify that I could not think of
permitting him to let himself out. We left the drawing-room, and passed,
with precautions of silence, to the front-door, which I gently opene