y,
obstinately, without intelligence, hinders the onward path of its
progress.

It was this part of her nature, then, in Sally that answered to the
display of the lower instincts in Traill. By reason of that part of
her, she understood it; by reason of it also, and because she loved
him, she was neither thwarted nor dismayed in her desire to win him
to herself.

"I do hate myself for doing that!" she exclaimed afresh, when she
had finished the brandy he had poured out for her. "Did I say anything
foolish, silly--did I? Oh, I hope I didn't. What happened?"

Traill laughed good-naturedly at her apprehension.

"You didn't say a word; you just moaned and tumbled off. Pitched
against me. If I hadn't been there, you'd have fallen clean on to
the floor and perhaps hurt yourself."

She sat up, then rose unsteadily to her feet. "I am much better now!"
she declared eagerly.

He watched her incomprehensively as she walked across the floor, her
knees loose to bear her weight, her lips twitching, and her hands
doing odd little things with no meaning in them. It was forced upon
him then, the wondering why she was trying so hard to hide her
weakness. He would have imagined that a woman would like to be made
a fuss of, petted, looked after; to be allowed to lie prone upon a
couch, emitting little moans of discomfort to attract sympathy. And
he, himself, would have been quite willing to give it. But now, he
came to the conclusion more than ever that she was not a woman who
cared for the closest relationship. Such a moment as this had been
an excellent opportunity for a woman to have forced sentiment into
the position, and dragged it on from there to intimacy, to have put
out her hand to touch him, seemingly for comfort, but in reality with
an hysterical desire for some demonstration of affection. Sally had
done none of these things. With a giant effort she had struggled
against her inertia. There she was before him, walking up and down
the room, talking anything that came into her head with forced
courage, feigning a strength which any fool could see she did not
possess.

At last his wonder dragged the question from him. "Why are you going
on like this?" he asked suddenly.

She stopped abruptly in her walking, turned and faced him with lips
trembling and fingers picking at the braid upon her dress.

"Like what?"

"Like this. Walking up and down the room. Trying to talk all sorts
of courageous nonsense, and showing how utt