"Did you kiss her?"
"I——"
"Did you?"
"Yes."
I was so scared that my teeth chattered when Thusis turned on me in the starlight.
Her gray eyes were aflame; her little hands were tightly clenched. I hoped she would upper-cut me and mercifully put me to sleep, for this scene was like a nightmare to me.
Then, of a sudden, the slender figure seemed to wilt before my eyes,—shrink, bend, stand swaying with desperate hands covering the face.
"Michael," she whispered. "Michael!"—and her voice ended in a sigh.
Scared as I was I took her in my arms. She rested her face against my shoulder.
"You—you don't really care," I stammered, "do you, Thusis? Do you, my darling——"