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ht of the time when her capital would be gone was like an icy hand gripping at her heart. "Money is terribly useless," she had said to Riviere, but there were times when she wished passionately that she had the money with which to buy comforts for a life of blindness. Those were craven moments, however--moments which she despised when they were past. Of what use to her would be the silken-padded cage she had longed to buy, when life held for her no work, no love? Riviere she had thought of a thousand times. His every action and word in the days of their first acquaintanceship came back to her with the wonderful inner clarity of sight and hearing that belongs to those who have no outer vision. She saw him at the arena of Arles, standing on the topmost tier a few yards distant from her, watching the red ball of the sun sink down into the mists of the grey Camargue. He was aloof and cold--icy, unapproachable, masked in reserve. She saw him in the _ruelle_ of Arles, with the light from the shuttered window falling on him in bars of yellow and black, fighting with Berserk fury against the bare knife of the Provencal youth. Here he was primitive man unchained--a Rodin figure with muscles knotted in a riot of hot-blooded passion. He was battling for her. No, not for her, but for the duty that a man owes to womankind. "I didn't even know it was you," he had said curtly. That had hurt her at the time, but now it seared into her. The rescue had meant nothing--it had brought him no nearer to her. He was still cold and aloof. She saw him in the Jardin de la Fontaine, lifting his hat with formal politeness and making to move on. Still aloof, still encased in cold reserve. With deliberate intent she had set herself to melt him, and she had succeeded. By the arbour of the Villa Clementine she saw him, chatting animatedly in keen enjoyment of her frank camaraderie. But that was only casual friendship. Still aloof in what now mattered vitally to her. She saw him seeking her out by the Maison Carree, standing to watch her sketch and passing to her the compliment of candid praise. Then he had come nearer, but by such a little! She saw him silvered in the moonlight by the Druids' Tower, standing at her easel. Here he would surely have revealed himself if he had had thoughts to utter of inner feelings. But he had remained silent. Then there rang in her ears his passionate declaration of the sick-room: "Elaine! Elaine! You
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