"Aren't we standing here as on an isolated rock in mid-ocean?" he whispered.
She nodded and pressed herself against him softly.
"And yet have to remain strangers," he went on.
She made no reply, and lowered her head to dip it into the mass of blossoms. He felt the quivering of her body.
"Hedwig," he said softly.
She shrank. It was the first time he had ever called her by her first name.
"Hedwig."
"What is it?"
"Hedwig, my heart's so full. I must thank you. I must tell you loving things. What would I be without you? Whatever I am I owe to you. Hedwig, I can't bear any longer to be standing beside you so stiff and so cold while my heart is throbbing. I must get some air--I must tell you----"
"Oh, God!" she breathed, clapping her hands to her face and rushing back into the room, where she dropped down on a settee.