“Don’t start me on that train of thought,” he objected harshly. “It maddens me. If Jack and his restraining influence were to die—if we were to meet here to-night—if time for us was to stop——”
He clutched her other arm and passed both hands to her shoulders. One remained there. The other continued around her neck; forced her face to lift to his; clung to her throat. The pulse of his fingers beat against the pulse just under her chin.
“Look at me, Dolores. Keep me seeing the surprise in your eyes. Do you realize that you have only your inexperience to protect you?”
She was glad to obey. She looked and looked. And as she looked, she saw her heaven—at last her home. Something lifted that for long had lain a dead-weight on her heart, a question that now wafted like a fragrance from her lips.
“You care—for me?”
“Dolores....”
“You have longed for me as I have longed for you?”
“Didn’t you know from the first? I tell you to implore you—don’t trust me. I am no longer strong, Dolores. Against my will, against Jack’s faith—— Life, position, integrity—everything is a trifle to me except the need to know—— Dolores, will you try to understand? Won’t you forgive and pity me? I am terrified for you. You must be stronger than I.”
She did not appear to have heard him.
“You love me, then. You love me.”