"I want to put
everything right away. I want to forget there is such a place as home."
His arm was around her in a moment. He held her caught to him. "I can
soon make you forget that, my Daphne," he said. "I can lead you through
such a wonderland as will dazzle you into complete forgetfulness of
everything else. But you must trust me, you know. You mustn't be afraid."
He was drawing her away from the glare of coloured lights as he spoke,
drawing her to the further end of the rink where stood a tiny, rustic
pavilion.
She went with him with a breathless sense of high adventure, skimming the
ice in time with his rhythmic movements, mesmerized into an enchanted
quiescence.
They reached the pavilion, and he paused. The other skaters were left
behind. They stood as it were in a magic circle all their own. And only
the moon looked on.
"Ah, Daphne!" he said, and took her in his arms.
There came to Dinah then a wild and desperate sense of fear, fear that
was coupled with a wholly unreasoning and instinctive shame. She strained
back from him. "Oh no! Oh no!" she gasped. "I mustn't! I'm sure it's
wrong!"
But he mastered her very slowly, wholly without violence, yet wholly
irresistibly. His dark face with its blue, compelling eyes dominated her,
conquered her. And all her life resistance had been quelled in her. Her
will wavered and was down.
"Why should it be wrong?" he whispered.
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