Page:Neith Boyce--The bond.djvu/95

Rh began coaxing her, with half-laughing, tender phrases that showed a distinct pleasure in her jealousy.

"I believe you put it on, simply to please me," he suggested.

"No!" she said passionately.

In an hour they were in a train, going out through the smoky tunnel, and the bleak rectangular outskirts of the city, into the fields. The car was almost empty. They sat hand-in-hand. Teresa's face was full of light and colour; her narrow eyes gleamed joyously; she leaned against Basil's shoulder with a soft nestling of her pliant body. They opened the window as soon as they were out of the tunnel, and the spring air blew in upon them, mixed with cinders which nobody minded. Then came the smell of the sea. They got out at a smart suburban station and walked away from it, over a hill, through budding woods and newly turned fields and banks of green grass mixed with shelves of rock. The blue sky was dappled all over now with cloud-feathers that melted and formed anew every moment. Teresa sang: