t of surprise. Suffer! She might wish him
dead, but she did not want him to suffer--God knew! And yet, gripped by
those hands, she could not say: I am sorry!

He made a sound that was almost a groan, and dropped on his knees.
Feeling herself held fast, she tried to push his forehead back from her
waist. It was fiery hot; and she heard him mutter: "Have mercy! Love me
a little!" But the clutch of his hands, never still on the thin silk of
her dress, turned her faint. She tried to writhe away, but could not;
stood still again, and at last found her voice.

"Mercy? Can I MAKE myself love? No one ever could since the world
began. Please, please get up. Let me go!"

But he was pulling her down to him so that she was forced on to her knees
on the grass, with her face close to his. A low moaning was coming from
him. It was horrible--so horrible! And he went on pleading, the words
all confused, not looking in her face. It seemed to her that it would
never end, that she would never get free of that grip, away from that
stammering, whispering voice. She stayed by instinct utterly still,
closing her eyes. Then she felt his gaze for the first time that evening
on her face, and realized that he had not dared to look until her eyes
were closed, for fear of reading what was in them. She said very gently:

"Please let me go. I think I'm going to faint."

He relaxed the grip of his arms; she sank down and stayed unmoving on the
grass. After such utter stillness that she hardly knew whether he were
there or not, she felt his hot hand on her bare shoulder. Was it all to
begin again? She shrank down lower still, and a little moan escaped her.
He let her go suddenly, and, when at last she looked up, was gone.

She got to her feet trembling, and moved quickly from under the
yew-trees. She tried to think--tried to understand exactly what this
portended for her, for him, for her lover. But she could not. There was
around her thoughts the same breathless darkness that brooded over this
night. Ah! but to the night had been given that pale-gold moon-ray, to
herself nothing, no faintest gleam; as well try to pierce below the dark
surface of that water!

She passed her hands over her face, and hair, and dress. How long had it
lasted? How long had they been out here? And she began slowly moving
back towards the house. Thank God! She had not yielded to fear or pity,
not uttered falsities, not pretended she could lov