At last
she took her courage in both hands.
'Why did you make me come here?' she asked suddenly,
'You give me credit now for very marvellous powers,' he smiled.
'You knew I should come.'
'I knew.'
'What have I done to you that you should make me so unhappy? I want you
to leave me alone.'
'I shall not prevent you from going out if you choose to go. No harm has
come to you. The door is open.'
Her heart beat quickly, painfully almost, and she remained silent. She
knew that she did not want to go. There was something that drew her
strangely to him, and she was ceasing to resist. A strange feeling began
to take hold of her, creeping stealthily through her limbs; and she was
terrified, but unaccountably elated.
He began to talk with that low voice of his that thrilled her with a
curious magic. He spoke not of pictures now, nor of books, but of life.
He told her of strange Eastern places where no infidel had been, and her
sensitive fancy was aflame with the honeyed fervour of his phrase. He
spoke of the dawn upon sleeping desolate cities, and the moonlit nights
of the desert, of the sunsets with their splendour, and of the crowded
streets at noon.
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