“I will try—certainly,” he answered. “You would be surprised, however, if you could realize the effect of a long period of enforced seclusion upon a man of my—”
“Don’t!” she shrieked; “stop!”
“My temperament, I was about to say,” he concluded. “There was a time when I am afraid I might have been tempted, under such circumstances as these, to forget that you were no longer free, to forget everything that except we were alone, and that you—are as beautiful as ever you were!”
“Yes!” she murmured, moving imperceptibly a little nearer towards him.
He picked up the check and gave it to her.
“I am no actor,” he said, looking at her steadily. “At present, I make no conditions. But—”
She leaned towards him. He took her face between his hands and kissed her on the lips.
“I may make them later,” he said. “I reserve my right.”
She looked at him for a moment, and dropped her veil.
“Please take me down to my carriage,” she asked.