have been placed in such a ridiculous
position! He did not love Stephen in that way; and she should have known
it. He liked her and all that sort of thing; but what right had she to
assume that he loved her? All the weakness of his moral nature came out
in his petulance. It was boyish that his eyes filled with tears. He
knew it, and that made him more angry than ever. Stephen might well have
been at a loss to understand his anger, as, with manifest intention to
wound, he answered her:

'What a girl you are, Stephen. You are always doing something or other
to put a chap in the wrong and make him ridiculous. I thought you were
joking--not a good joke either! Upon my soul, I don't know what I've
done that you should fix on me! I wish to goodness--'

If Stephen had suffered the red terror before, she suffered the white
terror now. It was not injured pride, it was not humiliation, it was not
fear; it was something vague and terrible that lay far deeper than any of
these. Under ordinary circumstances she would have liked to have spoken
out her mind and given back as good as she got; and even as the thoughts
whirled through her brain they came in a torrent of vague vituperative
eloquence. But now her tongue was tied. Instinctively she knew that she
had put it out of her power to revenge, or even to defend herself. She
was tied to the stake, and must suffer without effort and in silence.

Most humiliating of all was the thought that she must propitiate the man
who had so wounded her. All love for him had in the instant passed from
her; or rather she realised fully the blank, bare truth that she had
never really loved him at all. Had she really loved him, even a blow at
his hands would have been acceptable; but now . . .

She shook the feelings and thoughts from her as a bird does the water
from its wings; and, with the courage and strength and adaptability of
her nature, addressed herself to the hard task which faced her in the
immediate present. With eloquent, womanly gesture she arrested the
torrent of Leonard's indignation; and, as he paused in surprised
obedience, she said:

'That will do, Leonard! It is not necessary to say any more; and I am
sure you will see, later on, that at least there was no cause for your
indignation! I have done an unconventional thing, I know; and I dare say
I shall have to pay for it in humiliating bitterness of thought later on!
But please remember we are all alone! Thi