. The air was fresher, the lights more
distinct, the cold stone of the balustrade colder and harder, when
by chance or purpose she struck her hand against it. No feeling of
annoyance with Denham remained; he certainly did not hinder any flight
she might choose to make, whether in the direction of the sky or of her
home; but that her condition was due to him, or to anything that he had
said, she had no consciousness at all.

They were now within sight of the stream of cabs and omnibuses crossing
to and from the Surrey side of the river; the sound of the traffic, the
hooting of motor-horns, and the light chime of tram-bells sounded more
and more distinctly, and, with the increase of noise, they both became
silent. With a common instinct they slackened their pace, as if to
lengthen the time of semi-privacy allowed them. To Ralph, the pleasure
of these last yards of the walk with Katharine was so great that he
could not look beyond the present moment to the time when she should
have left him. He had no wish to use the last moments of their
companionship in adding fresh words to what he had already said. Since
they had stopped talking, she had become to him not so much a real
person, as the very woman he dreamt of; but his solitary dreams had
never produced any such keenness of sensation as that which he felt
in her presence. He himself was also strangely transfigured. He had
complete mastery of all his faculties. For the first time he was in
possession of his full powers. The vistas which opened before him seemed
to have no perceptible end. But the mood had none of the restlessness or
feverish desire to add one delight to another which had hitherto marked,
and somewhat spoilt, the most rapturous of his imaginings. It was a mood
that took such clear-eyed account of the conditions of human life that
he was not disturbed in the least by the gliding presence of a taxicab,
and without agitation he perceived that Katharine was conscious of
it also, and turned her head in that direction. Their halting steps
acknowledged the desirability of engaging the cab; and they stopped
simultaneously, and signed to it.

"Then you will let me know your decision as soon as you can?" he asked,
with his hand on the door.

She hesitated for a moment. She could not immediately recall what the
question was that she had to decide.

"I will write," she said vaguely. "No," she added, in a second,
bethinking her of the difficulties of writing anythi