They rose. “Shall we go in?”
“Not yet,” he pleaded.
“It would be better.”
As they were crossing the terrace, the cocher approached them. He wanted to know at what hour they proposed to leave next morning. He was anxious to start early, before the heat of the day had commenced.
“I don’t think we’re leaving.” Teddy glanced at Desire. Then, with a rush of decision: “We’re planning to stay a day or two longer. It’ll be all the same to you; I’ll pay for the return journey.”
Saying that he would be gone before they were out of bed, the man bade them farewell.
When they had entered the darkness of the narrow streets, he put his arm about her. She came to him reluctantly; then surrendered and leant against him heavily. They sauntered silently as in a dream. All the steps which had led up to this moment passed before him: her evasions and retractions. She was no longer a slave of freedom. For the first time he felt certain of her; with the certainty came an overwhelming sense of gratitude and tranquillity. He feared lest by word or action he should disturb it, and it should go from him.
They passed by the old palaces perfumed with wallflowers; in a window an occasional light winked at them. They reached the Roman part of the town and hurried their steps. By contrast it seemed evil and ghost-haunted; through the caves that had been houses, bats flew in and out A soft wind met them. They felt the turf beneath their tread and stepped out on to the ruined battlements. Wild thyme mingled with the smell of lavender. The memory of forsaken gardens and forgotten ecstasies was in the air. Three towers, Roman, Saracen and French, pointed mutilated fingers at eternity. They halted, drinking in the silence, and lifted their eyes to the stars wheeling overhead. Far away, through mists across the plain, Marseilles struck sparks on the horizon and the moon rose red.
She turned in his embrace. “I’m not half as sweet as you would make me out, I’m not. Oh, won’t you believe me?”
His tranquillity gave way; he caught her to him, raining kisses on her throat, her eyes, her mouth.