"You have adopted such a manner with the world generally," he floundered, "that a concession from you means a great deal. You--you have been making extraordinary concessions. It is easy to see that this young fellow is madly enamored of you. He does not know how to conceal it, and he does not try. You have not seemed to demand that he should. You have let him follow you, and come and go as his passion and simplicity prompted him. One might say you had encouraged him--though encouraged seems hardly the word to use." "No," she interrupted, "it is not the word to use." "He has made himself conspicuous and you too, and you have never protested by word or deed. When he was in danger you actually risked your life for him." "Great heaven!" she ejaculated. The truth of what he said came upon her like a flash. Until this moment she had only seen the night from one stand-point, and to see it from this one was a deadly blow to her. She lost her balance. "How dare you?" she cried breathlessly. "I was mad with excitement. If I had stopped to think----" "You usually do stop to think," he put in. "That was why I was amazed. You did a thing without calculating its significance. You never did so before in your life. You know that it is true. You pride yourself upon it." He could have said nothing so bitter and terrible. For the moment they had changed places. It was he who had presented a weakness to her. She did pride herself upon her cool power of calculation. "Go on!" she exclaimed. "He has been here half the day," he proceeded, growing bolder. "You were out in the garden together all the afternoon--he has only just left you. When you contrast his position with yours is not _that_ an extraordinary thing? What should you say if another woman had gone so far? Two years ago, he was Haworth's engineer. He is a wonderful fellow and a genius, and the world will hear of him yet. _I_ should never think of anything but that if I were the only individual concerned, but you--you treated him badly enough at first." She turned paler and paler. "You think that I--that I----" She had meant to daunt him with the most daring speech she could make, but it would not complete itself. She faltered and broke down. "I don't know what to think," he answered desperately. "It seems impossible. Good heavens! it is impossible!--you--it is not in your nature." "No," she said, "it is not." Even in that brief space she had recovered herself wholly. She met his glance just as she had met it before, even with more perfect _sang froid_.