In a moment he went on: “You must not think that I am merely jealous. I have no hopes. If Joe had never existed, you would not have cared for me. Remember too, that I’ve known him for ten years. This is not something that has sprung into my mind since I learned that you. . . . You must believe that I am honest! I love you! If it was anybody else but him. . . . I haven’t seen Joe but about half a dozen times in my life. From the first he has represented to me the principle of evil; that which destroys us! I have seen how he debauches everyone with whom he comes in contact. He calls to the evil in the natures of others. He goes on unharmed because he feels nothing. The thought that he might obtain a hold on you, a permanent hold. . . . Oh God! it won’t bear speaking of! It is too horrible. . . .”
He jumped up as if he were about to run out of the place.
“Steady!” whispered Elaine. “People are looking. . . .”
He dropped into his chair; his startled eyes darting around.
After a silence, she said sullenly: “This is just emotional stuff.” She turned her cheek on her palm, half averting her face from him. “. . . Anyhow, I’m not engaged to him.”
“I know the nature of the spell he exerts over you,” Wilfred went on more calmly. “I have seen it working; I have felt it myself in a different way. It is horrible and irresistible—yes, and delicious, too. Delicious! I say this, because I must force you to see that I understand. I don’t blame you for feeling it. . . . You think that I’m something less than a man—Oh, well, never mind about me! . . . But I want you to know that I never put you on any silly pedestal. I love you because you’re warm and human, and of the same flesh as me. I don’t blame you. . . .”
“Thanks!” drawled Elaine. Her eyes were hidden from him.
“. . . I don’t see how you’re going to resist it. A pure and passionate woman! But marriage. . . . Oh, God! . . .”
“What’s the alternative?” she murmured.
“Give yourself to him,” said Wilfred quickly.