Love! It was not enough that Berta should return to life. She, Hilda, must give her heart unasked to a man who appeared to be quite satisfied with friendship. She hadn't even fought against it. Non-resistant, she had permitted this crowning folly to creep into her heart. She had forgotten that to him Mrs. Chester was an old woman, and that he had sought her society because he was just humanly lonesome. She hadn't had her chance. With the physical attributes of a Venus and the mental attainments of an Aspasia, a woman might not win the heart of a man in three short hours. Love at first sight! She trembled. He had used that subject merely to pass the time and to keep the conversation away from dangerous channels. She was very unhappy.
She heard the elevator door rattle in the groove. Mathison stepped forth. Malachi's cage bobbed against a leg. He paused a moment (truthfully, to get his sea-legs, for he was still groggy) and brushed his forehead with his free hand. The movement left a bloody smear.
She flew to him and cried, in passionate anger, "The beast has hurt you!"
"Banged me up a bit. But my teeth are all sound, and I still can bite. He got loose somehow, and ... well, I went berserker. I'm a sight! Malachi did a fine thing to-night. I was killing that man, when Malachi spoke up. I'll see you home."
"Indeed you shall ... straight up to my apartment, where I can take care of those cuts and bruises."
"At this hour?" tingling.
"What matters the hour? Wouldn't you prefer me to the hotel physician?" raising the veil and letting him look into her eyes, which were full of sapphire lights.
"All right. You may do with me as you please."
Day after to-morrow was now very far away. At no time in his life had he craved so poignantly for the touch of a woman's hand. To be ministered to, coddled, made of; a memory to take away with him to the high seas, from which he might never return.