n a moment she had slipped away from him into a life of her own
where he could not follow.

He had to find her and hold her fast. Nothing else mattered--neither
his work, nor his career, nor Christine. It was terrible how little
they seemed now--a handful of dust--beside this mounting, imperative
desire. He had been so invulnerable. In wanting nothing but what was
in himself he had been able to defy exterior events. Now he was
stripped of his defence. He could be hurt. He could be made
desperately happy or unhappy by things which he had thought trivial and
purposeless--the playthings of inferior children.

He came upon her suddenly. She knelt in the long grass, idle, with a
few scattered primroses in her lap as though in the midst of gathering
them she had been overtaken by a dream. He called her by name,
angrily, because of what he suffered. He stumbled to her and flung
himself down beside her and held her close to him, ruthless with desire
and his child's fear.

In that sheer physical explosion his whole personality blazed up and
seemed to melt away, flowing into new form. He had dashed down the
hill, a crude, exultant boy, into the whole storm and mystery of
manhood. And for all his fierceness his heart was small within him,
afraid of her, and of itself, and its own hunger.

At last he let her go. He tore himself from her and dropped face down
in the grass, trembling with grief and shame. He heard her say:
"Robert--dear Robert," very quietly, and her hand touched him, passing
like a breath of cool wind over his hair and neck. He kissed it
humbly, pressing it to his wet, hot cheek.

"I was frightened, Francey--and jealous--of everything--of the things
you love that I don't even know of--of the places you've been to--of
your friends--your money--your work. I thought you'd run away to
Italy--or somewhere else where I couldn't follow--that I'd lost
you----"

He saw her face and how deeply stirred she was. She had blazed up in
answer to him, but that very fire lit up something in her which was not
new, but which now stood out full armed--a clear-eyed austerity.

"I felt, too, as though I were running away--to the ends of the
world--but not from you, Robert. I wanted you to come too. I asked
you. You're not frightened now, are you?"

"Not so much."

"Let's be quiet--quite quiet, Robert. We've got to talk this out,
haven't we? I've got to understand. Sit here and help me tie these
together