"That's true." He came slowly towards her, reeling a little in his stride. "I want you—body and soul."
"I know—you told me——"
"When——?"
"The night you lay unconscious in my arms."
He put up his hand to his throat, as though something suffocated him.
"You had better let me go," he repeated doggedly. "We're both thrown out of our course. At my best, I'm not much—I've learnt that—if I resist—things it's because I don't care. And tonight——"
"You do care."
"Yes," he said, between his teeth.
"Why should we resist what is the most splendid thing in us?"
"Splendid?" he echoed. "My—my dreams were splendid. As you say—they've gone. And the reality—can there be any reality between us—between a divinely gifted woman and the loutish fool who dreams about her? If I'd thought so—I'd have gone away—but it seemed to me that you were just kind and pitying—amused even—and I dared go on. And it is impossible—we belong to different worlds—life isn't the same thing to either of us."