"In what way?" she demanded, elevating her eyebrows in surprise.
"You are either the cleverest or the most unsophisticated woman I have ever met. You are attractive enough to send a saint to perdition, yet you are quite indifferent to the power of your beauty and the tumult it arouses in the men who chance to cross your path. You seem to be absolutely without feeling. Yet I don't believe you devoid of temperament. I think I know women. I have met a good many. You do not belong to the type of cold, passionless women."
Again his eyes sought hers and found them. Again she tried to avoid his gaze and could not. There was something in his manner, his gestures, the tone of his voice, that conveyed to her more his real meaning than his actual words, yet, to her surprise, she was not aroused to anger. Sure of herself, she found herself listening, wondering what he would say next, ready to flee at the first warning of peril, but playing a dangerous game like the moth in the flame. As she sat back on the sofa, her head in the sofa cushions, he leaned nearer to her, and in those low, musical tones which held her under a kind of spell, he murmured:
"You are the cleverest woman I ever met."
She smiled in spite of herself, and he, mistaking the motive, thought she intended it as an encouragement. He glanced round to see if anyone was watching them, but Mr. Parker was peacefully dozing in a deep armchair a dozen yards away, and at the far end of the room Ray, Steell and Reynolds were engrossed in an exciting game of cards. Leaning quickly over, he seized her hand. His voice vibrating with passion, he said:
"Not only the cleverest, but the most desirable of women. Don't you see that you've set me afire? I'm mad for you! Helen—I want you!"
For a moment she was too stunned by his insolent daring to withdraw her hand, which he continued to press in his. His eyes flashing, he went on:
"Haven't you seen all along that I love you—desperately, passionately. You've set me afire. I'm mad for you. Let me awaken that love that's in your breast, but which your husband has never awakened. Let me——"
He did not finish, for that moment a small, jeweled hand, suddenly torn from his grasp, struck him full on the mouth. Rising and trying with difficulty to control the emotion in her voice, she said quickly:
"You'd better go now—so as to prevent a scandal. If they knew, it might be awkward for you. Of course, you must never come here again."