He laughed coarsely. "Well, my little canary, are you glad I have returned?" She did not reply, but continued to gaze at him in a steadfast manner. He advanced toward her with an ugly glare. "Sulking, are you? I know what to do with perverse women." He moved another step nearer to her, his attitude became more menacing, but still there was no sign of fear on her face, and he thrilled with admiration at her bravery. "Speak, you, or by God! I will choke the breath out of your body with my fingers," and he waved his hands before her. "A gentleman," she said at last, "would take off his hat in the presence of a lady." He burst into a bellow of rude laughter. "Do you call yourself a lady? Do you know what I have called you to all my friends? I have told them you are nothing but a----" Before the fateful word was out of his mouth she was stung into activity. With faring cheeks she sprang up from the bed, her hand flashed upward, and there was a sharp report as it came into contact with his face. His eyes sparkled. It was just what he would have had her do. Still, he had a part to play. With a roar of rage he grabbed hold of her in his arms and pressed her to him. He felt her shudder convulsively, and tightened his muscles in expectation of the struggle which he believed she would put up. In that he was unexpectedly surprised. Her hand strayed to his side, fumbled there for a moment, then dropped listlessly down again, and she remained passive within his grasp. He looked down upon her face, slightly bewildered by her lack of resistance. Her eyes were closed, and he wondered whether she had fainted in horror, but even as he looked they flashed open. There was a quizzical expression within them, a curious sense of elation; and suddenly he became conscious of a feeling of uneasiness. It was almost as if she had deliberately played for this moment. Once again he looked into the depths of her eyes and saw therein a mocking devil which gibbered at and scorned him. A tempting, overpowering sensation gripped hold of him. Flashingly it occurred to him that never again in his life would he hold her quiescent in his arms. Her lips were there, so red and inviting, so near to his. He knew it was the last thing he should have ever dreamed of doing, it being far from his nature to take advantage of a woman in his power, but his leaping blood, hot with a fire of passion lit by her glance and her position in his arms, mounted to his brain: the next moment he bent over her and pressed his lips gently upon hers. It might have been any time from five to ten seconds that they remained thus; then, with a moan, she wrenched her arms upward and, placing her hands upon his face, pushed with all her might and forced him away from her.