“There is somebody there!” she said, trembling.
“Nobody, Miss Norne. Will you come in with me?”
“I don’t dare——”
“Why?”
“You and I alone together—no! oh, please—please! I am afraid!”
“Of what?”
“Of—giving you—my c-confidence—and trust—and—and f-friendship.”
“I want you to.”
“I must not! It would destroy us both, soul and body!”
“I tell you,” he said, impatiently, “that there is no destruction of the soul—and it’s a clean comradeship anyway—a fighting friendship I ask of you—all I ask; all I offer! Wherein, then, lies this peril in being alone together?”