.

Cicely went red and then white, and looked round her helplessly. "You
can't run away," he said, and waited for her to speak.

His silence was more insolently compelling than any words could have
been. Her eyes were drawn to his in spite of herself, fluttered a
moment, and rested there in fascinated terror. So the women in ages of
violence and passion, once caught, surrendered meekly.

"You are mine," he said, in a voice neither raised nor lowered. "I said
you should be when I first saw you. I'll take care of you. And I'll take
care of myself for your sake."

Suddenly she found herself trembling violently. It seemed to be her
limbs that were trembling, not she, and that she could not stop them. He
put his arm around her. "There, there!" he said soothingly. "Poor little
bird! I've frightened you. I had to, you know. But you're all right
now."

For answer she burst into tears, her hands to her face. He drew them
away gently, mastering her with firm composure. "It was a shock, wasn't
it?" he said in a low, vibrating monotone. "But it had to be done in
that way. Jim Graham doesn't upset you in that way, I'll be bound. But
Jim Graham is a rich, comfortable vegetable; and I'm not exactly that.
You don't want to be either, do you?"

"No," she said, drying her eyes.

"You want a mate you can be proud of," he went on, still soothing her.
"Somebody who will do big things, and do them for your sake, eh? That's
what I'm going to do for you, little girl. I'm famous already, so I
find. But I'll be more famous yet, and make you famous too. You'll like
that, won't you?"

He spoke to her as if she were a little child. His boasting did not
sound like boasting to her. His strength and self-confidence pushed
aside all the puny weapons with which she might have opposed him. She
could not tell him that she did not love him. He had not asked for her
love; he had asked for herself; or rather, he had announced his
intention of taking her. She was dominated, silenced, and he gave her no
chance to say anything, except what he meant her to say.

He took his arms from her. "We must go back now," he said, "or they will
wonder what has become of us." He laughed suddenly. "They were a little
surprised when I ran away after you."

It occurred to her that they must have been considerably surprised. The
thought added to her confusion. "Oh, I can't go back to them!" she
cried.

"No, no," he said soothingly. "You shall slip into the house b