"But!" she mocked him.
"I expected not you."
"Ah, you expected not me! What——"
"What right had I to suppose that the message came from you?" said Hugh. "You wrong me, lady. I am beholden to you for your kindness, but my comrades——"
"They are gone! Do not trouble about them. We speak now of you and myself. Hugh, am I fair?"
He regarded her, wondering.
"Very fair, lady."
"Is there one fairer?"
"Nay, I think not."
"Would you like to have me, Hugh?" She came closer to him, and it seemed as though she imparted a fluid quality to the atmosphere, as though they two existed in some impalpable, shadowy essence which must dissolve them into one. "Would you like to hold me—as you held me a moment since? Would you like to feel my arms around you—so?" Her arms went around him again, and he stood motionless, paralysed. "Would you like to feel my lips on yours—so?" Her lips burned his, clung, caressed. She threw back her head a little, and looked up at him out of bold, blazing eyes that dared and questioned. "No woman can delight you as can I, Hugh. No woman can——"