You'd
never understand. I've lain awake often in the night with the dread of
you. But"--her voice shook slightly--"I didn't know what I wanted, so
I kept on. Now that I do know--though I shall never have it--it's made a
difference, and I can't go on. You don't want me any more now I've told
you, so it won't hurt you so very badly to let me go."
"You are wrong," he said, and suddenly she knew that out of his silence
or her speech had developed something that was strange and new. His voice
was quick and low, utterly devoid of its customary arrogance. "I want you
more than ever! Dinah--Dinah, I may have been a brute to you. You're
right. I often am a brute. But marry me--only marry me--and I swear to
you that I will be kind!"
His calm was gone. He leaned towards her urgently, his dark face aglow
with a light that was not passion. She had deemed him furious, and
behold, she had him at her feet! Her ogre was gone for ever. He had
crumbled at a touch. She saw before her a man, a man who loved her, a
man whom she might eventually have come to love but for--
She caught her breath in a sharp sob, and put forth a hand in pleading.
"Eustace, don't! Please don't! I can't bear it. You--you must set me
free!"
"You are free as air," he said.
"Am I? Then don't--don't ask me to bind myself again! For I can't--I
can't. I want to go away. I want to be quiet." She broke down suddenly.
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