For a moment there was an awkward silence, then Dora spoke--after the
door had been reluctantly closed from without.
"I suppose," she said, "that this was done on purpose?"
"Not by me, Dora."
She merely bowed her head.
"Do you believe me?" he asked.
"Yes."
She continued to sip her tea, and he actually handed her a plate of
biscuits.
"Is it still No?" he asked abruptly.
"Yes."
Perhaps her fresh youthful beauty moved him, perhaps it was merely
opposition that raised his love suddenly to the dignity of a passion that
made him for once forget himself, his clothes, his personal appearance,
and the gentlemanly modulation of his voice.
For a moment he was almost a man. He almost touched the height of a man's
ascendency over woman.
"You may say No now," he cried, "but I shall have you yet. Some day you
will say Yes."
It was then for the first time that Dora realised that this man did
actually love her according to his lights. But never for an instant did
she admit in her own mind the possibility of succumbing to Arthur's will.
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