"
Her head was again uplifted, and I knew she was endeavoring to see my
face through the gloom. There was silence, the only sounds the slash
of the boat through the water, and the slight flapping of the canvas.
"I am a woman," she said at last, "and we like to pretend to
misunderstand, but I am not going to yield to that inclination. I do
understand, and will answer frankly. We can never be friends as we
were before."
My heart sank, and I felt a choke in my voice difficult to overcome.
"I was afraid it would be so."
"Yes," and both her hands were upon mine, "in our position we cannot
afford to play at cross purposes. You have been loyal to me, even when
every inducement was offered elsewhere. There was a moment when I
almost doubted, but it was only for a moment. Then I seemed to sense
your plan, your purpose, and from that time on I have trusted you more
completely than ever before. This is confessing a great deal, for it
is my nature to be reticent--I have always been hard to become
acquainted with."
"I have not found you so; I feel as though I had known you always."
"That comes from the peculiarity of our first meeting, the
unconventional manner in which we were brought together. I was not my
natural self that night, nor have I ever been able since to feel toward
you as I have in my relations with other men.
Pages:
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288