t
to worship me--well!--I simply won't be worshipped. As for your 'little
wonderful white woman sweetly perfumed like a rose,' I don't mind
saying that I know her. And I don't mind also telling you that she came
up the hill last night to ferret me out."

Step by step Manella drew nearer, her eyes blazing.

"She went to see you?--She did THAT!--In the darkness?--like a thief or
a serpent!"

He laughed aloud.

"No thief and no serpent in it!" he said--"And no darkness, but in the
full light of the moon! Such a moon it was, too! A regular stage moon!
A perfect setting for such an actress, in her white gown and her rope
of gold hair! Yes--it was very well planned!--effective in its way,
though it left me cold!"

"Ah, but it did NOT leave you cold!" cried Manella; "Else you would not
have come down to see her to-day! You say she went 'to ferret you
out'--"

"Of course she did"--he interrupted her--"She would ferret out any man
she wanted for the moment. Forests could not hide him,--caves could not
cover him if she made up her mind to find him. I had hoped she would
not find ME--but she has--however,--you say she has gone--"

The colour had fled from Manella's face,--she was pale and rigid.

"She will come back," she said stiffly.

"I hope not!" And he threw himself carelessly down on the turf to
rest--"Come and sit beside me here and tell me what she said to you!"

But Manella was silent. Her dark, passionate eyes rested upon him with
a world of scorn and sorrow in their glowing depths.

"Come!" he repeated--"Don't stare at me as if I were some new sort of
reptile!"

"I think you are!" she said, coldly--"You seem to be a man, but you
have not the feelings of a man!"

"Oh, have I not!" and he gave a light gesture of indifference--"I have
the feelings of a modern man,--the 'Kultur' of a perfect super-German!
Yes, that is so! Sentiment is the mere fly-trap of sensuality--the
feeler thrust out to scent the prey, but once the fly is caught, the
trap closes. Do you understand? No, of course you don't! You are a
dreadfully primitive woman!"

"I did not think you were German," she said.

"Nor did I!" and he laughed--"Nor am I. I said just now that I had the
'Kultur' of a super-German--and a super-German means something above
every other male creature except himself. He cannot get away from
himself--nor can I! That's the trouble! Come, obey me, Manella! Sit
down here beside me!"

Very slowly and very reluctantly