"I am sure this is one of the occasions on which we ought to hear only the beating of our own hearts; but, as a matter of fact, I don't. Come, Frank, don't stand there like a hop-pole." Frank slowly let his eyes rest on her, but he did not answer her smile. Margery paused a moment. "Come," she said again, "let us go a little higher. There is plenty of water." Frank pushed the boat out from the bank and jumped in. "Then it is all over," he said. "I must go home at once. I must get on with the portrait immediately. I cannot last if I am not quick. There's no time to lose, Margy. Please let me get back at once." He paused a moment. "Margy, give me one kiss, will you?" he said. "Perhaps, perhaps-- Ah, my darling, cannot you do what I ask?" He had raised himself and clung round her neck, kissing her again and again. But she, afraid of yielding, afraid of sacrificing her reason even to that she loved best in the world, unwound his arms. "No, Frank, I have said I cannot. Oh, my dear, don't you understand? Frank, Frank!" But he shook his head and took up the oar. "Why are you in such a hurry?" she asked, after a moment, seeing he did not look at her again. "What time is it?" "I don't know," said Frank, quickly. "I only know that if I am to finish it I must finish it at once. It will take us nearly an hour to get home, and it is too dark to work after five." The wind, since that sudden lull, had blown only fitfully by gusts, and by the time they had emerged into the estuary it had died out altogether. "The wind has dropped," said he. "The winds and the stars fight against me. We sha'n't be able to sail." He took up the sculls, and rowed as if he were rowing a race. "What's the matter?" asked Margery. "Why are you in such a hurry? It is not late." "You don't understand," he said. "There is a hurry. I must get back. Oh, why can't you understand? I must have you or it, and you--you have given me up." "Frank, what do you mean?" asked Margery, bewilderedly. "You have given me up for it--it, that painted horror you saw, that--that-- Margery, do listen to me just once more. You don't understand, dear, but I don't mind that. Only trust me; only tell me to stop painting it--to destroy it!" He leaned on his oars a moment, waiting for her answer. "What is the matter with you?" she asked. "Why do you speak to me like that? What nonsense it all is! I can't advise you to give it up because I think it much better for you that you should go on with it."