IV
And then, again, they were by the open windows. But a cloud with a satin fringe hid the moon, and it was so dark that the shine of her eyes was all he could see of her face. And Gloria was so tall that her eyes were almost level with his.
“And so you didn’t know why, in my letter?” she asked miserably.
He humoured her....
“Well, why?”
“You hunt wild beasts, don’t you, Aubrey?”
“And I bring the skins for you to walk on, Gloria.”
“And when you come back from your hunting, you ravage me like a wild beast——”
He cried out sharply in amazement, but she went on, like a sibyl:
“And then you go away again. And then again you come back, to ravage me——”
“Gloria, you are mad!”
“No, I am very sane. And very tired. I loved you, Aubrey. I shall never love any one else. I am clotted with your passions, Aubrey. I wanted love, but you ravaged me like a wild beast. And what is left of me now, I want to preserve. Oh, I want to! Please understand ... just a little! All last night I wondered what I would do. I saw you coming back, my dear, the hunter coming back to his fireside and his wife and his holiday—oh, yes, I am your holiday, Aubrey!—and then I saw you going away again, leaving me.... Oh, Aubrey, how you have sinned against love! And so I went away, because of the horror of it. And I have come back, because of the horror of your loneliness. I, who am used to loneliness! And I also came back to see if you were—different....”
“If,” she whispered, “we were living in a past time, I should go into a nunnery, to get assoiled. But as it is, dear, I shall go for a walk....”
“Let me come with you,” he begged humbly.
“No, Aubrey. I’d like to walk quite alone. Towards the moon and back.” But the moon was behind a cloud with a satin fringe.
He watched her as she walked across the garden and was lost in darkness. He waited for a long time, but he knew she would not return. She has never returned.