in the glamour of an Italian night with the stars
pulsing overhead like a smile upon your lips, and all the world
whispering! You must not stay here!"

His eyes burnt upon her; his hands shook; from head to foot he was hot
and fierce with passion, and in spite of herself she kindled to it. That
he loved she knew before, but his description of his city of dreams had
given to him in her thoughts a touch of fancifulness, had led her to
conceive of his love as something dreamlike, had somehow spiritualised
him to the hindrance of her grasp of him as flesh and blood. Thus, she
understood, she might well have seemed to be trifling with him, though
nothing was further from her thoughts. But now he was dangerous; love
had made him dangerous, and to her. She knew it, and in spite of herself
she gloried in the knowledge. Her heart leaped into her eyes and shone
there responsive, unafraid. The next moment she lowered her head. But he
had seen the unmistakable look in her eyes. Even as she stood with her
bowed head, he could not but feel that every fibre in her body thrilled;
he could not but know the transfigured expression of her face.

"I had no thought to hurt you," she said, and her voice trembled, and it
was not with fear or any pain. Wogan took a step towards her and checked
himself. He spoke sharply between clenched teeth.

"Lock your door," said he.

The curtain between them was down. Wogan had patched and patched it
before; but it was torn down now, and they had seen each other without
so much as that patched semblance of a screen to veil their eyes.
Clementina did not answer him or raise her head. She went quietly into
her room. Wogan did not move until she had locked the door.

Then he disposed himself for the night. He sat down across the top step
of the stairs with his back propped against the passage wall. Facing him
was the door of Clementina's room, on his left hand the passage with the
oil lamp burning on a bracket, stretched to the house-wall; on his right
the stairs descended straight for some steps, then turned to the left
and ran down still within view to a point where again they turned
outwards into the courtyard. Wogan saw to the priming of his pistols and
laid them beside him. He looked out to his right over the low-roofed
buildings opposite, and saw the black mountains with their glimmering
crests, and just above one spur a star which flashed with a particular
brightness. He was very tired and very co