Page:Possession (Roche, February 1923).pdf/275

 "It is not good for us—for me—I mean, to be here together. I feel too much. Why should I pretend otherwise?"

"I say, Grace, don't pretend with me. Be yourself—your darling self! We love each other. Well, can't we face that love together—even cherish it, a little, on a morning like this?"

Her fair face flushed, her eyes became a deeper blue as she answered, "Face it, perhaps, but not cherish it."

He moved a step closer and then said, with a tragic flourish of his hand towards Grimstone: "Do you see that house, Grace? A lonely looking house, eh! Well, I live alone there—except for the baby. Fawnie left me over two months ago."

She uttered a low cry and held out her hands. "Oh! Derek. I'm coming down, catch me!" She slipped and ran down the sloping side of the hummock, and when his arms had caught her and supported her she said again: "Poor, poor Derek! But why did she leave you?"

"She ran away with Jammery."

"With Jammery. An Indian! How horrible!"

"Not to her."

"But—after you."

"Apparently I didn't satisfy her." He still held her arm, and they began slowly to follow an icy path among the hummocks.

"Are you cold, dearest?" he asked. She shook her head, and said, "I'm all bundled in fur, don't you see?"

He saw indeed the etherealised beauty of her face in the brilliant light. He became aware that she wore a grey squirrel coat and a little grey squirrel toque with a knot of red berries on the brim.

"You are so utterly adorable," he said, "that I never know what you wear. I am only conscious of your near-