only
indecency in prospect, if a man comes to care for a married woman? Can't
a decent man love her at all? I--I think--"

Her hands, outstretched, trembled, then flew to her face; and she stood
there swaying, until Plank perforce stepped to her side and steadied her
against him.

So they remained for a while, until she looked up dazed, weary,
ashamed, expecting nothing of him; and when it came, leaving her still
incredulous, his arms around her, his tense, flushed face recoiling from
their first kiss, she did not seem to comprehend.

"I can't turn on him," he stammered, "I--we are friends, you see. How
can I love you, if that is so?"

"Could you love me?" she asked calmly.

"I--I don't know. I did love--I do care for--another woman. I can't
marry her, though I am given to understand there is a chance. Perhaps
it is partly ambition," he said honestly, "for I am quite sure she has
never cared for me, never thought of me in that way. I think a man can't
stand that long."

"No; only women can. Who is she?"

"You won't ask me, will you?"

"No. Are you sorry that I am in love with you?"

His arms unclasped her body, and he stepped back, facing her.

"Are you?" she asked violently.

"No."

"You speak like a man," she said tremulously. "Am I to be permitted to
adore you in peace, then--decently, and in peace?"

"Don't speak that way, Leila. I--there is no woman, no friend, I care
for as much as I do you. It is easy, I think, for a woman, like you, to
make a man care for her. You will not do it, will you?"

"I will," she said softly.

"It's no use; I can't turn on him. I can't! He is my friend, you see."

"Let him remain so. I shall do what I can. Let him remain a monument
to his fellow-beasts. What do I care? Do you think I desire to turn you
into his image? Do you think I hope for your degradation and mine? Are
you afraid I should not recognise love unaccompanied by the attendant
beast? I--I don't know; you had better teach me, if I prove blind. If
you can love me, do so in charity before I go blind forever."

She laid one hand on his arm, looked at him, then turned and passed
slowly through the doorway.

"If you are going to sleep before we start you had better be about it!"
she said, looking back at him from the stairs.

But he had no further need of sleep; and for a long while he stood at
the windows watching the lamps of cabs and carriages sparkling through
the leafless thickets of the park like w