elt now so terribly part of him that she seemed to have lost all
her own identity. His hands, softly, tenderly passed up and down her
body, stroking her hair, her cheeks, her arms. Her mouth was against
his cheek and she was utterly motionless, shivering a little sometimes
and once her hand moved up and caught his and then moved away again. At
last, as it seemed from an infinite distance, his voice came to her,
speaking to her. "Maggie, darling," he said, "don't go back till late
to-night. You can say that those people asked you to stay to dinner.
Your aunts can't do anything. Nothing can happen. Stay with me here and
then later we'll go and have dinner at a little place I know ... and
then come back here ... come back here ... like this. Maggie, darling,
say you will. You must. We mayn't have another chance for so long.
You're coming to me afterwards. What does it matter, a week or two
earlier? What does it matter, Maggie? Stay here. Let us love one
another and have something to think about ... to remember ... to
remember ... to remember ..." His voice seemed to slip away into
infinity as voices in a dream do. She could not say anything because
she was in a dream too. She could only feel his hand stroking her face.
He seemed to take her silence for consent. He suddenly kissed her
furiously, pressing her head back until it hurt. That woke her. She
pushed his arms back and sprang up. Her hands were trembling. She shook
her head. "No, Martin. No, not now." "Why not?" He looked at her
angrily from the chair. His face was altered, he was frowning, his eyes
were dark. "I'm not going to stay now." Her voice shook in spite of
herself. With shaking hands she patted her dress. "Why not?" he asked
again. "I'm not. I promised the aunts. Not now. It would spoil
everything." "Oh, very well." He was furious with her. He wouldn't meet
her eyes. "Not now." She felt that she would cry; tears flooded her
eyes. "It's been so lovely ... Martin ... Don't look like that. Oh, I
love you too much!" She broke off. With a sudden movement she fell at
his feet; kneeling there, she drew his hands to her face, she kissed
them, the palms of his hands over and over again. His anger suddenly
left him. He put his arms round her and kissed her, first her eyes,
then her cheeks, then, gently, her mouth. "All right," he said. "Only I
feel somehow ... I feel as though our time had come to an end." "But it
shan't?" He turned upon her fiercely, held her hands, l