us. I can count on her."

"Winn, come here," said Claire. He came and knelt down beside her. She
put her hands on his shoulders and looked deep into his eyes. He tried
to keep them hard, but he failed.

"Don't try and get round me!" he said threateningly. "You'll make me
dangerous if you do. It isn't the least good!"

"Can you listen to what I say?" Claire asked quietly.

"I suppose so," said Winn, guardedly. "I love every bit of you--I love
the ground your chair's on--but I'm not going to give in."

"And that's the way I love you," she said. "I'd go with you to the
world's end, Winn, if I didn't love you so much and you'd take me there;
but you won't, for just the same reason. We can't do what would be
unfair; we shouldn't like it. It's no use, darling; we shouldn't like
it."

"That's all you know about it," said Winn, unappeasably. "Anyhow, we're
going to do it, whether you like it or not."

Then she took her hands away from his shoulders and leaned back in her
chair. He had never seen her look so frail and small, and he knew that
she had never been so formidably strong.

"Oh, no, Winn," she whispered; "I'm not. I'm not going to do it. If you
wanted it, if you really wanted it with all of you, you wouldn't be
rough with me; you'd be gentle. You're not being gentle because you
don't think it right, and I'm never going to do what you don't think
right."

Winn drew a deep, hard breath. He threw his arms round her and pressed
her against his heart.

"I'm _not_ rough," he muttered, "and you've got to do it! You've got to
give in!"

Claire made no answer. She only clung to him, and every now and then she
said his name under her breath as if she were calling to something in
him to save her.

Whatever it was that she was calling to answered her. He suddenly bowed
his head and buried it in her lap. She felt his body shake, and he began
to sob, hard, dry sobs that broke him as they came. He held her close,
with his face hidden. Claire pressed her hands on each side of his
temples, feeling the throbbing of his heart. She felt as if something
inside her were being torn to pieces, something that knocked its way
against her side in a vain endeavor to escape. She very nearly gave in.
Then Winn stopped as suddenly as he had begun.

"Sorry," he said, "but this kind of thing is a bit wearing. I'm not
going to unlock that door. Do you intend to stay all night here, or give
me your promise?" He spoke steadily now; his m