different than
other girls had given you--some distinct impression that must linger
with you--always--always! I'm not like other women! Do you see, Paul? It
was all sheer vanity. I wanted you to remember!"

"And did you think I could forget?"

"Of course! All men forget a kiss as soon as their lips cease tingling!"

Paul laughed. "Wise girl! Who taught you so much? Come, confess!"

"Oh, I've known _you_ a whole week, Paul, and you----"

But their lips met again and the sentence was never finished.

At last she put her hands on each side of his face and looked up into
his eyes.

"Aren't you ashamed of yourself, Paul?"

"Of course not!"

"Of course you are!"

"You misunderstood me!--I said _'Not'_! But why? Are you ashamed of
me?"

"I ought to be, oughtn't I? But--I don't believe you can help it!"

His lips crushed hers again, fiercely. "I can't, Opal--I can't!"

She turned away her head, but he buried his face in her neck, kissing
the soft flesh again and again.

"Such a slip of a girl!" Paul murmured in her ear, when he again found
his voice. "Such a tiny, little girl! I am almost afraid you will vanish
if I don't hold you tight!"

Opal was thoroughly aroused now--no longer merely passive--quite
satisfactorily responsive.

"I won't, Paul! I won't! But hold me closer, closer! Crush this terrible
ache out of my heart if you can, Paul!"

There were tears in her voice. He clasped her to him and felt her heart
throbbing out its pain against its own, as he whispered, "Opal, am I a
brute?"

"N-o-o-o-o!" A pause. At last, "Let me go now, Paul! This is sheer
insanity!"

But he made no move to release her until she looked up into his eyes in
an agony of appeal, and pleaded, "Please, Paul!"

"Are you sure you want to go?"

"No, I'm not sure of that, but I'm quite sure that I _ought_ to go! I
must! I must!"

And Paul released her. Where was this madness carrying them? Was he
acting the part of the man he meant to be, or of a cad--an unprincipled
bounder? He did not know. He only knew he wanted to kiss her--_kiss_
her....

She turned on him in a sudden flash of indignation. "Why have you such
power over me?" she demanded.

"What power over you, Opal!"

"What's the use of dodging the truth, you professor of honesty? You make
me do things we both know I'll be sorry for all the rest of my life.
_Why_ do you do it?"

Her eyes blazed with a real anger that made her _piquante_ face more
alluring than e