but
a fool, could see that."

"Ah, but I am a fool," he returned doggedly. "I was a fool when I ran
straight, and it seems I'm a fool when I run crooked. You've got to make
the best of me as I am. Take your choice. Go to Buyukderer if you like.
If you do I shall stay on the Bosporus. Or travel if you like, and I'll
happen to be where you are. It's quite easy. It's done every day. But
you know that as well as I do. I can't give you points in the game of
throwing dust in the eyes of the public."

"It's too late now to let the villa, even if I cared to. And I can't
afford to shut it up and leave it standing empty while I wander about in
hotels. I shall go to Buyukderer next week."

"All right. I'll go back to the rooms I had last year, and we can live
as we did then. Give me the key of the garden gate and I can use the
pavilion as my sitting-room again. It's all quite simple."

A frown altered her white face. His mention of the pavilion had suddenly
recalled to her exactly what she had felt for him last year. She
compared it with what she felt for him now. With an impulsive movement
she pulled her hand away from his.

"I shall not give you the key. I can't have you there. I will not.
People have begun to talk."

"I don't believe it. They never see us together here. You have taken
good care of that in the last few months. Why, we've met like thieves in
the night."

"Here, yes. In a great town one can manage, but not in a place like
Buyukderer."

He leaned forward and said, with dogged resolution:

"One thing is certain--I will not be separated from you during the
summer. Do whatever you like, but remember that. Make your own plans. I
will fall in with them. But I shall pass the summer where you pass it."

"I--really I didn't know you cared so much about me," she murmured, with
a faint smile.

"Care for you!"

He stared into her face and the twinkles twitched about his eyes.

"How should I not care for you?"

He gripped her hand again.

"Haven't you taught me how to live in the dust? Haven't you shown me the
folly of being honorable and the fun of deceiving others? Haven't you
led me into the dark and made me able to see in it? And there's such
a lot to see in the dark! Why, good God, Cynthia, you've made a man in
your own image and then you're surprised at his worshipping you. Where's
your cleverness?"

"I often believe you detest me."

"Oh, as for that, a woman such as you are can be loved and hated