ntages to the
girl: though she was still as high strung as ever, she acquired a larger
measure of control over herself. The nervous tension, however, was so
complete physically that all her faculties were acutely awake; very early
she became conscious of a distant footstep.

To Stephen's straining ears the footsteps seemed wondrous slow, and more
wondrous regular; she felt instinctively that she would have liked to
have listened to a more hurried succession of less evenly-marked sounds.
But notwithstanding these thoughts, and the qualms which came in their
turn, the sound of the coming feet brought great joy. For, after all,
they were coming; and coming just in time to prevent the sense of
disappointment at their delay gaining firm foothold. It was only when
the coming was assured that she felt how strong had been the undercurrent
of her apprehension lest they should not come at all.

Very sweet and tender and beautiful Stephen looked at this moment. The
strong lines of her face were softened by the dark fire in her eyes and
the feeling which glowed in the deep blushes which mantled her cheeks.
The proudness of her bearing was no less marked than ever, but in the
willowy sway of her body there was a yielding of mere sorry pride. In
all the many moods which the gods allow to good women there is none so
dear or so alluring, consciously as well as instinctively, to true men as
this self-surrender. As Leonard drew near, Stephen sank softly into a
seat, doing so with a guilty feeling of acting a part. When he actually
came into the grove he found her seemingly lost in a reverie as she gazed
out over the wide expanse in front of her. He was hot after his walk,
and with something very like petulance threw himself into a cane
armchair, exclaiming as he did so with the easy insolence of old
familiarity:

'What a girl you are, Stephen! dragging a fellow all the way up here.
Couldn't you have fixed it down below somewhere if you wanted to see me?'

Strangely enough, as it seemed to her, Stephen did not dislike his tone
of mastery. There was something in it which satisfied her. The
unconscious recognition of his manhood, as opposed to her womanhood,
soothed her in a peaceful way. It was easy to yield to a dominant man.
She was never more womanly than when she answered him softly:

'It was rather unfair; but I thought you would not mind coming so far. It
is so cool and delightful here; and we can talk without being d