"You will not let me go?"
"I will not. Let this subject rest henceforth, until I renew it."
With a faint moan, she shut her eyes and shivered; and again he took her little white cold hands.
"Little snow-statue, why will you not trust me? Tell me what has so suddenly changed the soft white Lily-bud of yesterday into this hollow-eyed, defiant young woman?"
The temptation was powerful to unburden her heart, to demand of him the truth, with which she suspected he was at least partly acquainted; but the thought of casting so fearful an imputation upon her mother sealed her lips. Moreover, she felt assured that her entreaties would never prevail upon him to disclose what he deemed it expedient to conceal.
He watched and understood the struggle, and a cold smile moved his handsome mouth.
"You have resolved to withhold your confidence. Very well, I shall never again solicit it. It is not my habit to petition for that which I have a right to command. You merely force me to draw the reins where I preferred you should at least imagine you were unbridled."
He dropped her hands, looked at his watch, and took up his gloves; adding, in an entirely altered and indifferent voice:
"What have you lost to-day?"
It was with difficulty that she restrained the words:
"My youth, my peace of mind, my hope and faith in my future."