"
"Oh, don't!" said Dinah, inexplicably stung by his manner. "It--it isn't
nice of you to talk like that."
He put out his hand and touched her arm lightly, persuasively. "Then you
are angry with me?" he said.
Her resentment melted. She threw him a fleeting smile. "No--no! But how
could you imagine I could tell anyone? You didn't seriously--you
couldn't!"
"There isn't much to tell, is there?" he said, his fingers closing gently
over the soft roundness of her arm. "And you don't like that plan of
mine?"
"I didn't say I didn't like it," said Dinah, her eyes lowered.
"But--but--I can't do it, that's all. I'm going now. Good-bye!"
She turned to go, but his fingers still held. He drew a step nearer.
"Daphne, remember--you are not to run away!"
A transient dimple showed at the corner of Dinah's mouth. "You must let
me go then," she said.
"And if I do--how will you reward me?" His voice was very deep; the tones
of it sent a sharp quiver through her. She felt unspeakably small and
helpless.
She made a little gesture of appeal. "Please--please let me go! You know
you are much stronger than I am."
He drew nearer, his face bent so low that his lips touched her shoulder
as she stood turned from him. "You don't know your strength yet," he
said. "But you soon will. Are you going away from me like this? Don't you
think you're rather hard on me?"
It was a point of view that had not occurred to Dinah.
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