aw her nearer, but she kept at full arm's length and
looked irresponsive.

'Marian?'

She wished to answer, but a spirit of perversity held her tongue.

'Marian, don't you love me? Or have I offended you by my way of
speaking?'

Persisting, she at length withdrew her hands. Jasper's face expressed
something like dismay.

'You have not offended me,' she said. 'But I am not sure that you don't
deceive yourself in thinking, for the moment, that I am necessary to
your happiness.'

The emotional current which had passed from her flesh to his whilst
their hands were linked, made him incapable of standing aloof from her.
He saw that her face and neck were warmer hued, and her beauty became
more desirable to him than ever yet.

'You are more to me than anything else in the compass of life!' he
exclaimed, again pressing forward. 'I think of nothing but you--you
yourself--my beautiful, gentle, thoughtful Marian!'

His arm captured her, and she did not resist. A sob, then a strange
little laugh, betrayed the passion that was at length unfolded in her.

'You do love me, Marian?'

'I love you.'

And there followed the antiphony of ardour that finds its first
utterance--a subdued music, often interrupted, ever returning upon the
same rich note.

Marian closed her eyes and abandoned herself to the luxury of the dream.
It was her first complete escape from the world of intellectual routine,
her first taste of life. All the pedantry of her daily toil slipped away
like a cumbrous garment; she was clad only in her womanhood. Once or
twice a shudder of strange self-consciousness went through her, and
she felt guilty, immodest; but upon that sensation followed a surge of
passionate joy, obliterating memory and forethought.

'How shall I see you?' Jasper asked at length. 'Where can we meet?'

It was a difficulty. The season no longer allowed lingerings under
the open sky, but Marian could not go to his lodgings, and it seemed
impossible for him to visit her at her home.

'Will your father persist in unfriendliness to me?'

She was only just beginning to reflect on all that was involved in this
new relation.

'I have no hope that he will change,' she said sadly.

'He will refuse to countenance your marriage?'

'I shall disappoint him and grieve him bitterly. He has asked me to use
my money in starting a new review.'

'Which he is to edit?'

'Yes. Do you think there would be any hope of its success?'

Jasper shook