"Where to?" he asked at last.
But I shrank back now—the die was about to be cast; all the dog-like attachment and faithfulness of my sex broke loose, all the ardent desire of happiness that had been waiting quietly and submissively for so long stood up, every beat of my heart, every thought of my brain said "No." The minutes passed and I made no answer; testing, like a sounding lead, his looks searched my soul, and all at once I saw how his lips twisted, and there it was again, the old malicious smile that I had grown to hate and fear so much. I never understood it before, but comprehended it now all in a moment. He did not consider me strong enough to part from him; more, he considered no woman strong enough to part from the man she happened to love; nay, more, he despised every woman, every girl that lived, and, knowing that, I knew also, that not even an atom of his soul belonged to me so far, that the battle which I had taken up instinctively, as it were, was not yet by any means won.
"Where to!" he asked again.
With the quick instinct of someone hunted I realized my position, and now I smiled in spite of the tears that sprang up behind my eyelids.
"To England."
"Why to England?"
"Because I speak a little English and should like to know it perfectly."
"Do you know anybody in London?"
"No; that, however, matters little; all that matters is the money for the journey."
After that he grew very grave and was silent for a long while.