Suddenly the girl strained him to her with all her strength.
In the silence of passionate possession, her lips melted to his, ... a moment, ... then her head dropped on his arm with a sob.
“I was lonely;—you made me feel lonely.... Where have you been?”
“I’ve been in love with you——”
She released herself but clung to his hand. They came together again, sank down on the lounge together.
“I’ve been lonely,” she repeated; “—it’s been deathly lonely without you.... I’m tired—of the pain of it....”
Dusk in the room turned golden with a rosy tinge. They had not spoken. His gaze never left her face. At intervals she rested her bobbed head against him, confused by the dire ruin that once had been her mind before love burst in, disordering everything.
Now, groping for the origin of the cataclysm, she retraced her progress through a maze of memories to the first step. The Park! Vision of hot stars overhead; vision of the great bed where she lay in this man’s house; vision of the Coast—a confusion of sunshine and feverish endeavour;—but in none of these was the germ of The Beginning.... Yet she was drawing nearer now. The place of the birth of love was not far away.... Suddenly she found it.
And, as this man now was to know everything that she knew, Eris prepared to bare her untried heart.... She offered her lips first; looked into his eyes with a vague and virgin curiosity.