第59章

They had passed without a single word spoken, down through the laurels and guelder roses to the river bank; then he had turned to the right, and gone along it under the dove-house, to the yew-trees.There he had stopped, in the pitch darkness of that foliage.It seemed to her dreadfully still; if only there had been the faintest breeze, the faintest lisping of reeds on the water, one bird to make a sound; but nothing, nothing save his breathing, deep, irregular, with a quiver in it.What had he brought her here for? To show her how utterly she was his? Was he never going to speak, never going to say whatever it was he had in mind to say?

If only he would not touch her!

Then he moved, and a stone dislodged fell with a splash into the water.She could not help a little gasp.How black the river looked! But slowly, beyond the dim shape of the giant poplar, a shiver of light stole outwards across the blackness from the far bank--the moon, whose rim she could now see rising, of a thick gold like a coin, above the woods.Her heart went out to that warm light.At all events there was one friendly inhabitant of this darkness.

Suddenly she felt his hands on her waist.She did not move, her heart beat too furiously; but a sort of prayer fluttered up from it against her lips.In the grip of those heavy hands was such quivering force!

His voice sounded very husky and strange: "Olive, this can't go on.

I suffer.My God! I suffer!"

A pang went through her, a sort of surprise.Suffer! She might wish him dead, but she did not want him to suffer--God knew! And yet, gripped by those hands, she could not say: I am sorry!

He made a sound that was almost a groan, and dropped on his knees.

Feeling herself held fast, she tried to push his forehead back from her waist.It was fiery hot; and she heard him mutter: "Have mercy! Love me a little!" But the clutch of his hands, never still on the thin silk of her dress, turned her faint.She tried to writhe away, but could not; stood still again, and at last found her voice.

"Mercy? Can I MAKE myself love? No one ever could since the world began.Please, please get up.Let me go!"But he was pulling her down to him so that she was forced on to her knees on the grass, with her face close to his.A low moaning was coming from him.It was horrible--so horrible! And he went on pleading, the words all confused, not looking in her face.It seemed to her that it would never end, that she would never get free of that grip, away from that stammering, whispering voice.

She stayed by instinct utterly still, closing her eyes.Then she felt his gaze for the first time that evening on her face, and realized that he had not dared to look until her eyes were closed, for fear of reading what was in them.She said very gently:

"Please let me go.I think I'm going to faint."He relaxed the grip of his arms; she sank down and stayed unmoving on the grass.After such utter stillness that she hardly knew whether he were there or not, she felt his hot hand on her bare shoulder.Was it all to begin again? She shrank down lower still, and a little moan escaped her.He let her go suddenly, and, when at last she looked up, was gone.

She got to her feet trembling, and moved quickly from under the yew-trees.She tried to think--tried to understand exactly what this portended for her, for him, for her lover.But she could not.

There was around her thoughts the same breathless darkness that brooded over this night.Ah! but to the night had been given that pale-gold moon-ray, to herself nothing, no faintest gleam; as well try to pierce below the dark surface of that water!