Page:The Fruit of the Tree (Wharton 1907).djvu/438

Rh eyes gazing straight before her under dark tormented brows. When he paused she remained silent.

“Well—don’t you believe me?” he broke out with sudden asperity.

“I don’t know.… I can’t tell.…”

“But as long as there’s a doubt, even—a doubt my way—and I’ll show you there is, if you’ll give me time"

“How much time?” she murmured, without shifting her gaze.

“Ah—that depends on ourselves: on you and me chieﬂy. That’s what Garford admits. They can’t do much now—they’ve got to leave the game to us. It’s a question of incessant vigilance … of utilizing every hour, every moment.… Time’s all I ask, and you can give it to me, if any one can!”

Under the challenge of his tone Justine rose to her feet with a low murmur of fear. “Ah, don’t ask me!”

“Don’t ask you?"

“I can’t—I can’t.”

Wyant stood up also, turning on her an astonished glance.

“You can’t what—?”

Their eyes met, and she thought she read in his a sudden divination of her inmost thoughts. The discovery electriﬁed her ﬂagging strength, restoring her to immediate clearness of brain. She saw the gulf of [ 422 ]