"Would it have been permitted?" he asked.
"Why not?"
"Pardon, but I have always believed that what privileges and rights we men enjoy with regard to women are accorded to us by them. For us there exist no others. We may stand here, of course, in the dark and tear our hair ..."
"Have you been doing that?"
"Don't, please, ask for any explanations," he begged. Though his voice did not betray emotion, the arm that touched hers trembled a little.
She stood still, startled, and glanced helplessly down the dark avenue she had come by.
"Does this mean you wish me to leave you?" he asked.
In the light cast by a lamp she saw his eager questioning look.
"Oh no!" she answered slowly, and it seemed as if someone else was speaking for her. "Now we've met, we need not part at once."
"That's what I think," he said, as gravely as if he were making an affirmation.