Page:In a winter city, by Ouida.djvu/332

Rh as it is—does the world that tires you, the society that wearies you, the men and women who fatigue you—the adulation that nauseates you—the expenditure that after all is but a vulgarity in your sight—the acquisition that has lost its charm for you with long habit, like the toys of a child; are all those things so supreme with you that you can seud me from you for their sake? Is not one hour of mutual love worth all the world can give?"

His arms held her close, he drew her down to him nearer and nearer till his head rested on her breast, and he felt the tumultuous throbbing of her heart. For one moment of scarce conscious weakness she did not resist or repulse him, but surrendered herself to the spell of his power. He moved her as no mortal creature had ever had strength to do; a whole world unknown opened to her with his touch and his gaze; she loved him. For one moment she forgot all else.

But all the while, even in the temporary oblivion to which she had yielded, she never dreamed of granting what he prayed.