"That alone brought me here. I
thought of appealing to a lawyer, to the police, and then your face
rose up before me, and my decision was made. I came back to you that
night because--because I believed you to be a gentleman."
"And now? henceforth?"
Her eyes never wavered, although there was a high color in her cheeks
as my hands clasped her own more closely.
"I am convinced I chose aright. You are the man I thought you to be.
I am glad I came."
For an instant the hot blood coursed through my veins; I seemed to see
only the beauty of her flesh. Wild words leaped to my lips, only to be
choked back unspoken, although I scarcely knew what strength combined
to win the swift struggle. Impulse, made with sudden revelation of
love, swept me perilously near to outburst, yet reason held
sufficiently firm to restrain; the flood of passion. I knew I must
refrain; I read it in the calm depths of those eyes fronting me in
frank friendship. A word, a single, mad, ill-considered word, would
sever the bond between us as though cleft by a sword. With any other I
might have dared all, but not with her. Reckless as my nature had
grown in the hard school of life, I shrank from this test, dreading to
see her face change, her attitude harden.
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