He had schooled himself for this farewell, and remembering what Madame le Claire had told him, had decided on a course of action. The two had walked out into the hall and he had put on his top-coat. Now he went bravely up to her and stooped to kiss her.
She raised her face to his, and again the feeling that this man was only a mere acquaintance passed into her being, as she looked into his eyes. She turned her lips away. But Florian, as the feeling of strangeness impressed her, lost it himself in the contemplation, brief but irresistible, of the upturned lips with their momentary invitation so soon withdrawn. The primal man in him awoke. His arm tightened about the lissome waist; the divine form in the creamy silk, on which he had only now almost feared to look, he drew to him so tightly as almost to crush her; and with one palm he raised the averted face to his, and made deliberate conquest of the lips of vivid red. Once, twice, three times—and then she put her hands against his shoulders and pushed him away. Her face flamed.
"Eugene!" she exclaimed, "how——"
"Good night!" he answered, "my dearest, my darling, good night!"
And he ran down the street, in such a conflict of emotions that he hardly knew whither he went.
XII
ON THE FIRM GROUND OF BUSINESS
O merry it was in the good greenwood when the goblin and
sprite ranged free,
When the kelpie haunted the shadowed flood, and the dryad
dwelt in the tree;
But merrier far is the trolley-car as it routs the witch from
the wold,
And the din of the hammer and the cartridges' clamor as
they banish the swart kobold!
O, a sovran cure for psychic dizziness
Is a breath of the air of the world of business!
—Idyls of a Sky-Scraper.
It is recorded in the last chapter that Mr. Amidon ran from Miss Waldron's presence in such a state of agitation that he hardly knew whither he went. To the reader who wonders why he was agitated, I have only to hint that he was wretchedly inexperienced. And as it was, he soon got his bearings and walked briskly toward his hotel; still, however, in a state of mind entirely new to him.