his love all she had
ever felt or dreamed of feeling seemed colourless and cold. She
dreaded to rouse it again, and yet she could never forget the instant
thrill that had quivered through her when he had lifted her from her
feet.

When she had answered him with her question, he stood still in silence
for a moment. She was too perfect in his eyes for him to cast the blame
upon her, yet he knew that it had not been all his fault. And in the
lower man was the mad triumph of having kissed her and of having told
her, once for all, the whole meaning of his being. She looked down, and
he could not see her eyes. There was no chair near. To see her face he
dropped upon his knee and lightly touched her hands that lay idly in her
lap. She started, fearing another outbreak.

"Please--please!" he said softly, using the very word she had used to
him.

"Yes--but--" She hesitated and then raised her eyes.

The mask of his face was all softened, and his lips trembled a little.
His hands quivered, too, as they touched hers.

"Please!" he repeated. "I promise. Indeed, I promise. Forgive me."

She smiled, all at once, dreamily. All his emotion, and her desire for
it, were gone.

"I asked you to be my friend," she said. "I meant it, you know. How
could you? It was not kind."

"No--but forgive me," he insisted in a pleading tone.

"I suppose I must," she said at last. "But I shall never feel sure of
you again. How can I?"

"I promise. You will believe me, not to-day, perhaps, nor to-morrow, but
soon. I will be just what I have always been. I will never do anything
to offend you again."

"You promise me that? Solemnly?" She still smiled.

"Yes. It is a promise. I will keep it. I will be your friend always.
Give me something to do for you. It will make it easier."

"What can I ask you to do? I shall never dare to speak to you about my
life again."

"I think you will, when you see that I am just as I used to be. And you
forgive me, quite?"

"Yes. I must. We must forget to-day. It must be as though it had never
happened. Will you forget it?"

"I will try." But of that he knew the utter impossibility.

"If you try, you can succeed. Now get up. Be reasonable."

He took her hand in both of his. She made a movement to withdraw it, and
then submitted. He barely touched it with his lips and rose to his feet
instantly.

"Thank you," she said simply.

She had never had such a mastery of charm over him as at that moment.
But