" She stopped, perhaps through
consciousness that the conversation was getting toward egotism; perhaps
because she did not want to give confidence where it was better that she
should not.
"That is why you are so irresistible," Edmonson longed to finish; he
even framed his lips for the words, but a glance at Elizabeth checked
them. He wondered why, as he felt that a few months ago he would have
spoken them unhesitatingly. It could not be because she was possibly
Archdale's wife, for to believe her not that would please her better
than anything else. Therefore, though he feared it, and had referred to
it, he would have been glad to have denied it at the next moment. He
would even have been glad to believe that he was restrained wholly
by a question of how she would view this speech in the light of the
possibility. But he knew it was something more. He had seen the change
in Elizabeth, and in smothered wrath had perceived that this growth
which made her every day more interesting seemed to be in some way
withdrawing her from him. He struggled against allowing this dim feeling
to become a perception.
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