till doubt me? Ah, I see you
do!'

'Because somebody has stood nearer to you to-night than I.'

'A fogy like him!--half as old again as either of us! How can you mind
him? What shall I do to show you that I do not for a moment let him come
between me and you?'

'It is not for me to suggest what you should do. Though what you should
permit ME to do is obvious enough.'

She dropped her voice: 'You mean, permit you to do really and in earnest
what he only seemed to do in the play.'

Somerset signified by a look that such had been his thought.

Paula was silent. 'No,' she murmured at last. 'That cannot be. He did
not, nor must you.'

It was said none the less decidedly for being spoken low.

'You quite resent such a suggestion: you have a right to. I beg your
pardon, not for speaking of it, but for thinking it.'

'I don't resent it at all, and I am not offended one bit. But I am not
the less of opinion that it is possible to be premature in some things;
and to do this just now would be premature. I know what you would
say--that you would not have asked it, but for that unfortunate
improvisation of it in the play. But that I was not responsible for, and
therefore owe no reparation to you now.... Listen!'

'Paula--Paula! Where in the world are you?' was heard resounding along
the corridor in the voice of her aunt. 'Our friends are all ready to
leave, and you will surely bid them good-night!'

'I must be gone--I won't ring for you to be shown out--come this way.'

'But how will you get on in repeating the play tomorrow evening if that
interpolation is against your wish?' he asked, looking her hard in the
face.

'I'll think it over during the night. Come to-morrow morning to help me
settle. But,' she added, with coy yet genial independence, 'listen to
me. Not a word more about a--what you asked for, mind! I don't want to
go so far, and I will not--not just yet anyhow--I mean perhaps never.
You must promise that, or I cannot see you again alone.'

'It shall be as you request.'

'Very well. And not a word of this to a soul. My aunt suspects: but she
is a good aunt and will say nothing. Now that is clearly understood, I
should be glad to consult with you tomorrow early. I will come to you in
the studio or Pleasance as soon as I am disengaged.'

She took him to a little chamfered doorway in the corner, which opened
into a descending turret; and Somerset went down. When he had unfastened
the door at the bottom, a