come back to me! And see how good I will be. I will take you
abroad, you and the bambina. We will go to Rome--anywhere you like--live
how you like. Only come back to me!"

Gyp answered stonily:

"You are talking nonsense."

"Gyp, I swear to you I have not seen a woman--not one fit to put beside
you. Oh, Gyp, be good to me once more. This time I will not fail. Try
me! Try me, my Gyp!"

Only at this moment of his pleading, whose tragic tones seemed to her
both false and childish, did Gyp realize the strength of the new feeling
in her heart. And the more that feeling throbbed within her, the harder
her face and her voice grew. She said:

"If that is all you came to say--please go. I will never come back to
you. Once for all, understand, PLEASE."

The silence in which he received her words, and his expression, impressed
her far more than his appeal; with one of his stealthy movements he came
quite close, and, putting his face forward till it almost touched her,
said:

"You are my wife. I want you back. I must have you back. If you do not
come, I will kill either you or myself."

And suddenly she felt his arms knotted behind her back, crushing her to
him. She stilled a scream; then, very swiftly, took a resolve, and,
rigid in his arms, said:

"Let go; you hurt me. Sit down quietly. I will tell you something."

The tone of her voice made him loosen his grasp and crane back to see her
face. Gyp detached his arms from her completely, sat down on an old oak
chest, and motioned him to the window-seat. Her heart thumped pitifully;
cold waves of almost physical sickness passed through and through her.
She had smelt brandy in his breath when he was close to her. It was like
being in the cage of a wild beast; it was like being with a madman! The
remembrance of him with his fingers stretched out like claws above her
baby was so vivid at that moment that she could scarcely see him as he
was, sitting there quietly, waiting for what she was going to say. And
fixing her eyes on him, she said softly:

"You say you love me, Gustav. I tried to love you, too, but I never
could--never from the first. I tried very hard. Surely you care what a
woman feels, even if she happens to be your wife."

She could see his face quiver; and she went on:

"When I found I couldn't love you, I felt I had no right over you. I
didn't stand on my rights. Did I?"

Again his face quivered, and again she hurried on:

"B