"Thusis!"
But she had passed me in a flash and I heard her light feet flying up the stairs. I followed. She was at the top of the staircase, but heard me and turned on the landing to look down.
"My behavior with you mortifies me!" she repeated in a hurried whisper. "Why do you follow me, Michael?"
"Do you have to ask me, Thusis?"
"You mustn't ever again pursue me," she repeated in a low, breathless voice.
"Why do you say that?"
"Because—possibly I couldn't run as fast as you can. Do you think I would endure it to be overtaken? Do you suppose I could tolerate being run down and caught? By you? Can't you comprehend that such a thing is unthinkable?"
Again that slightest hint of contempt in her voice, not entirely recognized yet vaguely divined.
I said slowly: "If I really understand, Thusis, then you need not worry. Because I shall never again take a single step in the world to follow you."
She seemed to consider this very deeply, standing on the landing and looking down at me out of her beautiful and serious eyes.