"If I did, you would take the next steamer." "I am the one to decide that. At least give me the opportunity to reduce your mountain to a mole-hill." "Even you could not. And look--I see no reason why friends should wish to get at one another's inner life. The companionship of friends is mental only. I have given you my mind freely. You have no right to ask for my soul. You are not my lover, and you don't wish to be, although I don't doubt that at times you imagine you do." "I am free to confess that I have imagined it more than once. I will set the example by being perfectly frank with you. If I could understand you, if I were not tormented by all sorts of dreadful possibilities, I should have let myself go long before this. Does that sound cold-blooded? I can only say in explanation that I was born with a good deal of self-control, and that I have strengthened my will by exercise. It would be either one extreme or the other with me. At first I thought I should not want to marry you in any case. I am now sufficiently in love with you to long to be wholly so." Nina stole a glance at him with a woman's uncontrollable curiosity, even in great moments. But he had turned his head from her, and was hitting savagely at his boot. "I will be frank to this extent, by way of return: The barrier between us is insurmountable, and you would be the first to admit it. I will tell you the whole truth the day before you leave; that must content you. And, meanwhile, nip in the bud what is merely a compound of sympathy and passion. I know the influence I exert perfectly. I have seen more than one man go off his head. It humiliates me beyond expression." "It need not--although it is extremely distasteful to me that you should have seen men go off their heads, as you express it. But passion is the mightiest factor in love; there is no love without it, and it is bound to predominate until it is satisfied. Then the affections claim their part; and a dozen other factors, mental companionship for one, enter in. But, for Heaven's sake, don't add to your morbidity by despising yourself because you inspire passion in men. The women who do not are not worth considering." "Is that true? Well, I am glad you have suggested another way of looking at it. I don't think I am morbid. At all events no one in this world ever made a harder fight not to be." They were riding through a thicket, and he turned and brought his face so close to hers that she had only a flashing glimpse of its pallor and of the flame in his eyes.