She clenched her fist and hit him in the face. He lost all control of
himself. All his love, all his hatred, welled up in him and he was
beside himself.

"I'll teach you," he shouted. "I'll teach you."

He seized a riding-whip which happened to be under his hand, and struck
her with it. She screamed, and the scream maddened him so that he went
on striking her, again and again. Her shrieks rang through the bungalow
and he cursed her as he hit. Then he flung her on the bed. She lay there
sobbing with pain and terror. He threw the whip away from him and rushed
out of the room. Ethel heard him go and she stopped crying. She looked
round cautiously, then she raised herself. She was sore, but she had not
been badly hurt, and she looked at her dress to see if it was damaged.
The native women are not unused to blows. What he had done did not
outrage her. When she looked at herself in the glass and arranged her
hair, her eyes were shining. There was a strange look in them. Perhaps
then she was nearer loving him than she had ever been before.

But Lawson, driven forth blindly, stumbled through the plantation and
suddenly exhausted, weak as a child, flung himself on the ground at the
foot of a tree. He was miserable and ashamed. He thought of Ethel, and
in the yielding tenderness of his love all his bones seemed to grow soft
within him. He thought of the past, and of his hopes, and he was aghast
at what he had done. He wanted her more than ever. He wanted to take her
in his arms. He must go to her at once. He got up. He was so weak that
he staggered as he walked. He went into the house and she was sitting in
their cramped bedroom in front of her looking-glass.

"Oh, Ethel, forgive me. I'm so awfully ashamed of myself. I didn't know
what I was doing."

He fell on his knees before her and timidly stroked the skirt of her
dress.

"I can't bear to think of what I did. It's awful. I think I was mad.
There's no one in the world I love as I love you. I'd do anything to
save you from pain and I've hurt you. I can never forgive myself, but
for God's sake say you forgive me."

He heard her shrieks still. It was unendurable. She looked at him
silently. He tried to take her hands and the tears streamed from his
eyes. In his humiliation he hid his face in her lap and his frail body
shook with sobs. An expression of utter contempt came over her face. She
had the native woman's disdain of a man who abased himself before a
woman. A weak c