,
and going to the window, leaned his forehead against the glass. What
affected him so disagreeably was not the incident of the man following
her, but her light way of regarding it. And as the knowledge of this
came home to him, he was impelled to go on speaking. "It's a trifle to
make a fuss about, I know," he said. "And I shouldn't give it a second
thought, if I could ONLY feel, Louise, that you looked at it as I do
... and felt about it as I do. You seem so indifferent to what it
really means--it's almost as if you enjoyed it. Other women are
different. They resent such a thing instinctively. While you don't even
take offence. And men feel that in you, somehow. That's what makes them
look at you and follow you about. That's what attracts them and always
has done--far too easily."

"You among the rest!"

"For God's sake, hold your tongue! You don't know what you're saying."

"Oh, I know well enough." She put her hair back from her forehead, and
passed her handkerchief over her lips. "Instead of lecturing me in this
way, you might be grateful, I think, that I didn't accept the man's
offer and go somewhere to supper with him. It's dull enough here. You
don't make things very gay for me. To-day, altogether, you are treating
me as if I were a criminal."

He did not answer; the words "You among the rest!" went on sounding in
his ears. Yes, there was truth in them, a horrible truth. Who was he to
sit in judgment?--either on her, or on those others who yielded to the
attraction that went out from her. Had not he himself been in love with
her before he even knew her name. Had he then accused her?--laid the
blame at her door?

She caught a moth that was fluttering round the lamp, and carried it to
the window. When, a moment later, he turned and gave her another
unhappy look, she felt a kind of pity for him, forced as he was, by his
nature, to work himself into unhappiness over such a trivial matter.

"Don't let us say unkind things to each other," she said slowly. "I'm
sorry. If I had known it would worry you so much, I shouldn't have said
a word about it. That would have been easy."

He felt her touch on his arm. As it grew warm and close, he, too, was
filled with the wish to be at one with her again--to be lulled into
security. He pressed her hand.

"Forgive me! To-day I've been bothered--pestered with black thoughts.
Or else I shouldn't go on like this."

Now she was silent; both stared out into the night. And th