a low voice.
She turned round to him, laughing.
"Yes," she said, looking at him.
"Then kiss me."
"No, not now."
"Why not now?"
"I don't want to."
"Why don't you want to?"
She shook her head, still laughing into his eyes.
"But if I command you?"
"Ah! _command_!... Then I certainly will not."
His hand tightened on her arm and she did not draw away.
"Kiss me."
"No."
"I say yes."
"I say no."
He suddenly caught her, held her to him as though he would kill her
and kissed her furiously, on her eyes, her mouth, her hair. With his
violence he pushed back her head-dress. I could see his back bent like
a bow, and his thick short legs wide apart, every muscle taut. She lay
quite motionless, as though asleep in his arms, giving him no
response--then quite suddenly she flung her hands round his neck and
kissed him as passionately as he had kissed her. At last they parted,
both of them laughing.
He looked at her, and then with a gentleness and courtesy that I had
never seen in him before nor dreamed that he possessed, very softly
kissed her hand.
"I love you and--and you love me," he said.
"Yes ... I love you," she answered gravely. "At least, part of me
does."
"It shall be all of you soon," he answered.
"If there's time enough," she replied.
"Time!... I'll follow you wherever you go--"
"I really believe you will," she answered, laughing again. They waited
then, looking at one another. A bell rang. "Ah! I'm hungry.... Supper
time...." To my relief they passed away from the bandaging room
towards the other part of the house.
Meanwhile his irritation at Marie Ivanovna's kindness to Trenchard
increased with every hour. His attitude to the man had changed since
Trenchard's night at the Position; he was vexed, I think, to hear that
the fellow had proved himself a man--and a practical man with common
sense. Semyonov was honest about this. He did not doubt Nikitin's
word, he even congratulated Trenchard, but he certainly disliked him
more than ever. He thought, I suppose, as he had thought about
Nikitin: "How can a man with his wits about him be at the same time
such a fool?" And then he saw that Marie Ivanovna was delighted with
Trenchard's little piece of good luck. She laughed at Semyonov about
it. "We all know you're a very brave man," she cried. "But you're not
so brave as Mr." And Semyonov, because he knew that Trenchard was a
fool and that he himself was not, was vexed, as a
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