"You--know," she faltered, her arms creeping about his neck.
He kissed her then--her hair, her eyes, her neck, her lips--long, burning kisses that left her quivering beneath the rush of them.
Their passion brought her to herself and she drew away.
"We can't. We must not. I had forgotten."
"Something stands between us--we have no right. Forgive me."
"You are thinking of the past," he challenged. "Marcia, the past is dead. It is the present only in which we live--the present--just us two--who love."
"But we do, sweetheart," was his triumphant cry. "We do!"
"Ah, your tongue is too honest, Marcia. You cannot forget. Neither can I. Our pledge is given. We belong to one another. I shall not surrender what is mine--never."
"Only for a little while. I shall come back to you. Our love will hold. Absence, distance, nothing can part us--not really."
"Then tell me you love me so I may leave knowing the truth from your own sweet lips."
"Ah, now I can go! It will not be for long."
"It must be for forever, dear heart. You must not come back. Tonight must be--the end."
"Tonight must be the end," she repeated, turning away.
"You mean you cannot face tomorrow--the disgrace--"
"I mean tonight must be the end," she reiterated.
Through narrowed lids, he looked at her, scanning her averted face.
Then she heard him laugh bitterly, discordantly.
"So we have come to the Great Divide, have we?" he said. "I have, apparently, expected too much of you. I might have known it would be so. All women are alike. They desert a man when he needs them most. Their affection has no toughness of fibre. It snaps under the first severe strain. The prospect of sharing my shame is more than you can bear." Again he laughed. "Well, tonight shall be the end--tonight--now. Don't think I blame you. It is not your fault. I merely rated you too high, Marcia--believed you a bigger woman than you are, that's all. I have asked more than you were capable of giving. The mistake was mine--not yours."
Stunned by the torrent of his reproach, she stood motionless, watching while, without a backward glance, he passed into the hall and up the stairs. His receding footsteps grew fainter.
Even after he was out of sight, she remained immovable, her frightened eyes riveted on the doorway through which he had disappeared.