"Sigrid Fersen——"
"A woman. Jim, do you know her?"
He got up. It was as though she no longer existed for him. The D minor valse came down to them on the breath of the night-breeze—maddening and exhilarating—a song of life at its full tide.
"Yes—I—I know her," he said.
"Jim, where are you going?"
He turned on her, thrusting aside her clinging hands with a cold violence.
"Stay there!" he said. "Don't let any one see you. Stay there——!"
He pushed past her and went down the verandah steps. It was as though he had thrust a dog out of his path. She called to him, but he did not hear her—a minute later, he had vanished into the shadow of the trees.
CHAPTER X
AN ENCOUNTER