t was
breaking. She was only flesh and blood after all, and she, too, had felt
her pulses throbbing wildly as they had walked along by the lake, when
all the color and lights of the evening helped to excite her imagination
and exalt her spirit. They had been almost alone, for the other pair who
composed the _partie carree_ of this walk were several yards ahead of
them.

Each minute she had been on the verge of imploring him to say
good-bye--to leave her--to let their lives part, to try to forget, and
the words froze on her lips in the passionate, unspoken cry which
seemed to rise from her heart that she loved him. Oh, she loved him! And
so she had not spoken.

There had been long silences, and each was growing almost to know the
other's thoughts--so near had they become in spirit.

When she got to her room her knees were trembling. She fell into a chair
and buried her face in her hands. She shivered as if from cold.

Josiah was almost angry with her for being so late for dinner. Theodora
hardly realized with whom she went in; she was dazed and numb. She got
through it somehow, and this night determined to go straight to her room
rather than be treated as she had been the night before. But one of the
women whom the intercourse of the day had drawn into conversation with
her showed signs of friendliness as they went through the anteroom, and
drew her towards a sofa to talk. She was fascinated by Theodora's beauty
and grace, and wanted to know, too, just where her clothes came from, as
she did not recognize absolutely the models of any of the well-known
_couturieres_, and they were certainly the loveliest garments worn by
any one in the party.

One person draws another, and soon Theodora had three or four around
her--all purring and talking frocks. And as she answered their questions
with gentle frankness, she wondered what everything meant. Did any of
them feel--did any of them love passionately as she did?--or were they
all dolls more or less bored and getting through life? And would she,
too, grow like them in time, and be able to play bridge with interest
until the small hours?

Later some of the party danced in the ballroom, which was beyond the
saloon the other way, and now a definite idea came to Hector as he held
Theodora in his arms in the waltz. They could not possibly bear this
life. Why should he not take her away--away from the smug grocer, and
then they could live their life in a dream of bliss in Ital