Her soul was full of sympathy for him. She bent to aid him in his
search, and her hand in its wandering encountered his own. He seized her
fingers and pressed them to his lips, and she knew that he was kneeling
close at her feet.

"This is impossible," he said vaguely, hurriedly; "we may not part now
in a minute, like this. You have spoken foolishly, and I have accept it
too quick. We must speak longer and talk reasonably to each of us. We
must go where we may sit down and be quiet. _Faut etre raisonable._ Let
us go out of the door and go to the Cafe Luitpold and there speak."

The Cafe Luitpold is a gorgeous and fashionable resort in the
Briennerstrasse; its decorations are a cross between Herrn-Chiemsee and
a Norddeutscher steamer, and its reputation is blameless.

"I can't go to the Cafe Luitpold at ten o'clock at night in a golf
skirt," she objected gently, and tried to continue on her upward way;
but he held her fast by her hand, and as he pressed it alternately to
his face and lips, she felt her flesh wet with hot tears.

"You are crying!" she exclaimed in awe.

"I hope not," he said; "I hope not, but I am near it. If I do weep, will
you then despise me?"

"No," she said faintly; "no--I--"

He rose to his feet, and in the dark she knew him to be very, very near.
He still held her hand and his breath touched her cheek.

"Oh," he whispered, "say you love me if it be but so little! _Dites que
vous m'aimez!_ I have hoped so greatly, I have dreamed so greatly; I
will ask now no more to possess you for my own; I will content myself
with what you can so easy give--only a little love--"

He drew his arm about her. Something within her was rising as the slow
tide rises before the September gale, and she felt that all her
firmness would be as the sand forts which the children build, when that
irresistible final wave shall carry its engulfing volume over all. She
summoned to her aid the most frightful souvenirs of her unhappy
marriage, and pushed him violently away. His answer was a sudden grasp
of mighty vigor, at which she gave a muffled scream.

"You detest me, then?" he said through his teeth.

"It is my hat," she cried, freeing herself; "you drove the longest pin
straight into my head."

He moved a little away, and in so doing trod upon the match-box. Then in
an instant there was light again, and he could see her, her arms
upraised, straightening her hat.

"It is most badly on," he told her.

"I kno