He
returned presently and deposited a hatful of nuts in her lap. Then he
went back to his seat from where he watched her calmly as she munched
the starchy meat. It gradually dawned on him that the situation was
absurd; and he permitted a furtive smile to soften his firm lips. But
furtive as it was, she saw it, and colored, her quick intuition
translating the smile.
"It is absurd; truthfully, it is." She swept the nuts to the ground.
"But supposing I change all this into something more than absurd?
Supposing I should suddenly take you in my arms? There is no one in
sight. I am strong. Supposing, then, I kissed you, taking a tithe of
your promises?"
She looked at him uneasily. Starting a fire was all very well, but the
touch of it!
"Supposing that I took you away somewhere, alone, with me, to a place
where no one would find us? I do not speak, you say; but I am
thinking, thinking, and every thought means danger to you, to myself,
to the past and the future. How do these suppositions appeal to you,
Madame?"
Had he moved, madame would have been frightened; but as he remained in
the same easy attitude, her fear had no depths.
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