it down
there by the fire opposite me and tell me everything, for I am not
afraid. Nothing can frighten me now.'

She seated herself where she had sat more than half the day, and he
took the chair to which she had pointed. She poked the small green
logs with the antiquated tongs and watched the sparks that flew
upwards with every touch while she waited for him to speak. But he
looked at her in silence, forgetting everything for a while except
that he was really alone with her, almost for the first time in his
life. He changed his position and bent forward with his elbows on his
knees and his hands together, so that he was nearer to her. Without
turning her face from the fire she saw him in a side-glance, but made
no answering motion.

'Tell me what it is,' she said softly. 'Only one thing could hurt me
now.'

'It is hard to tell,' he answered in rather a dull voice.

She misunderstood, and turned to him slowly with wondering and
frightened eyes. Her hand weakened, without quite losing its hold, and
the ends of the clumsy tongs clattered on the brick hearth. The doubt
that had sprung upon her like a living thing as soon as she saw him,
began to dig its claws into her heart.

'If it is so hard to tell,' she said, 'it must be that one thing.' She
turned resolutely to the fire again. 'If it is to be good-bye, please
go away quietly and leave me alone.'

The words were not all spoken before he had caught her arm, so
suddenly that the old tongs fell on the bricks with a clang. Like him,
she had been leaning forward in her low chair, and as he drew her to
him she involuntarily slipped from her seat and found herself kneeling
on one knee beside him. She gave a little cry, more of surprise than
of displeasure or timidity, but he did not heed her. It was the first
time they had ever been left alone together, and while he still held
her with his right hand his left stole round her neck, to bring her
face nearer.

But she resisted him almost fiercely; she set both her hands against
his chest and pushed herself from him with all her might, and the red
blush rose even to her forehead at the thought of the kiss she almost
saw on his lips, a kiss that hers had never felt. He meant nothing
against her will, and when he felt that she was matching her girl's
strength against his, as if she feared him, his arms relaxed and he
let her go. She sprang to her feet like a young animal released, and
leaned against the mantelpiece breat