‘Afraid of you--and me.’ Later on when he was gone she must make herself think of that. It might have power to hurt: she could not tell now, with his unmasked, disturbed face watching her. Now there was nothing but depth under depth of welling happiness. ‘You know, Roddy,’ she said after a silence, ‘the awful thing about you is that I can never pick up again where we left off. To-night you’ve talked to me as I’ve always longed for you to talk to me, as if we could trust each other, as if we were two creatures of the same sort alone together. Don’t you feel we know each other better after to-night, Roddy?’ He was silent for a moment, his eyes twinkling; then he said: ‘I feel you’ve made me say a great many indiscreet things.’ ‘Poor Roddy! You’d better go, before I wring something out of you you’ll regret to your life’s end,’ she said bitterly. ‘You know I shan’t rest until I’ve forced you to tell me all your secrets. And when you have, I’ll go and tell them to everybody else.’ She shut her eyes and turned her face from him. There was a long silence. ‘Don’t be cross with me,’ he said in the end. ‘I’m not.’ ‘Didn’t I tell you I was inadequate?’ ‘Yes, you told me.’ ‘Well now you believe it don’t you?’ ‘No. No. No.’ ‘Ah--you’re incorrigible.... Good-bye, Judy.’ She turned towards him again, took his hand in both hers and clung to it. ‘Roddy, you _have_--quite liked--being with me ... haven’t you?’ His face softened. ‘I’ve adored it,’ he said gently. ‘And when shall I see you again?’ He shook his head. ‘Oh, Roddy, when?’ He stooped swiftly until his face almost touched hers, and murmured, watching her: ‘Whenever you like.’ His lips closed on hers very lightly. She put her arms round his neck and kissed his cheek and forehead. When after a moment or two he raised himself she thought he was smiling again. She lay perfectly still, watching him while he lit a cigarette, smoothed his hair, put on his coat and went to open the door. Then he turned, still smiling, and nodding as if encouraging her to smile back. But she continued to lie and stare up at him as if from the bottom of a well; as if all of her were dead except the eyes which just moved, following him. The door closed after him. Soon the sound of his footsteps faded along the corridor. She raised her hand slowly and with difficulty, as if a weight were holding it to her side, and pulled the lamp’s green shade down; and the whole room sank softly into semi-obscurity. Some trick of green light brought suddenly to mind the look of early spring woods at twilight: fresh buds and little leaves dashed with rain, an air like dark clear water lighting the branches with a wan glimmer. She looked at her body lying long, slender and still on the couch; she saw her breast rise and fall faintly with her breathing; and she had a sense of watching herself return from a long swoon, bathed in crystalline new life, transformed and beautified.