"Why--this--this love-making, of ours! We mustn't give ourselves over to sentiment--we must be normal and practical. We must look the thing squarely in the face and settle on some course that will be best and wisest for us both--" She trembled a little. Something cold and terrifying began to creep through her blood. "Yes--I know," she faltered, nervously--"You said--you said we would arrange everything together to-day." "True! So I did! Well, I will!" He drew closer to her and took her little hand in his own. "You see, dear, we can't live on the heights of ecstasy for ever" and he smiled,--a forced, ugly smile--"We've had a very happy time together, haven't we?"--and he was conscious of a certain nervousness as he felt her soft little body press against him in answer--"But the time has come for us to think of other things--other interests--your career,--my future--" She looked up at him in sudden alarm. "Amadis!" she said--"What is it? You frighten me!--you speak so strangely! What do you mean?" "Now if you are unreasonable I shall go away!" he said, with sudden harshness, dropping her hand--"I shall leave you here by yourself without another word!" She turned deathly pale--then flushed a faint crimson--a sense of giddy faintness overcame her,--she put up her hands to her head tremblingly, and loosening her hat took it off as though its weight oppressed her. "I--I am not unreasonable, Amadis," she faltered--"only--I don't understand--" "Well, you ought to understand," he answered, heatedly--"A clever little woman like you who writes books should not want any explanation. You ought to be able to grasp the whole position at a glance!" Her breath came and went quickly--she tried to smile. "I'm afraid I'm very stupid then," she answered, gently--"For I can only see that you seem angry with me for nothing." He took her hand again. "Dear little goose, I am not angry," he said--"If you were to make me a 'scene' I SHOULD be angry--very angry! But you won't do that, will you? It would upset my nerves. And you are such a wise, independent little person that I feel quite safe with you. Well, now let us talk sensibly,--I've a great deal to tell you. In the first place, I'm going to Algiers." Her lips were dry and stiff, but she managed to ask-- "When?" "Oh, any time!--to-morrow... next day--before the week is over, certainly. There are some fine subjects out there that I want to paint--and I feel I could do good work--" Her hand in his contracted a little,--she instinctively withdrew it... then she heard herself speaking as though it were someone else a long way off. "When are you coming back?" "Ah!--That's my own affair!" he answered carelessly--"In the spring perhaps,--perhaps not for a year or two--" "Amadis!" The name sprang from her lips like the cry of an animal wounded to death. She rose suddenly from his side and stood facing him, swaying slightly like a reed in a cruel wind.