[pg 45] "If you are not in a hurry, perhaps you will come in, and let me give you a cup of tea," she said, looking him full in the face. His heart sank. What was he to think now? And yet he was absurdly glad that he was not to leave her. "Do you mean it?" he asked. "Of course! I should not have asked you else. Are you very much shocked?" she added, with a mocking gleam in her eyes. "It is not proper, is it! I confess I did not think of that. But do come," she added, with a sudden bewitching smile. "I shall be delighted," he answered, gravely enough, but truthfully. He turned to pay the cabman, and followed her into the house. "My rooms are upstairs," she remarked, leading the way. "The luxury of a first floor is at present beyond me." Her words pleased him, but their effect died away when she opened a door on the first landing, and ushered him in. Such of the interior of the house as he had seen was handsomely furnished, but the room in which he stood was almost like a fairy chamber. Curtains divided it in the centre, and beyond he could see a table laid for dinner. [pg 46] [pg 46] "That half I use for a dining-room," she remarked, pointing towards it with one of her gloves, which she had just taken off. "It makes this room small, but it is a convenient arrangement. Do sit down!" He bowed, but remained standing, with his elbow resting upon the draped mantel-board. She took off her hat and coat, hanging them over the back of a chair, and advanced towards him. She was in her dancing dress, a floating mass of yellow draperies, and the firelight gleamed strangely upon her dusky, perfect face, with its olive colouring, and soft, glowing eyes. She came so close to him that a faint odour from the handkerchief in her hand stole up to him. He was playing with an ornament on the shelf, and his fingers tightened convulsively around it. It snapped in two in his hand; he did not notice it. He leaned forward towards her, and his strong voice vibrated with feeling. "And it was for this then, Adrea Kiros, that you ran away from the convent St. Lucile! My God!" [pg 47] [pg 47]
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