Page 654 - for-the-term-of-his-natural-life

strainedly. ‘It was a strange fancy for the man to have, that’s
all.’
‘I suppose you would not give me another rose, if I asked
you.’
‘Why not?’ said she, turning away uneasily. ‘You? You are
a gentleman.’
‘Not I—you don’t know me.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean that it would be better for you if you had never
seen me.’
‘Mr. North!’ Terrified at the wild gleam in his eyes, she
had risen hastily. ‘You are talking very strangely.’
‘Oh, don’t be alarmed, madam. I am not drunk!’—he pro-
nounced the word with a fierce energy. ‘I had better leave
you. Indeed, I think the less we see of each other the better.’
Deeply wounded and astonished at this extraordinary
outburst, Sylvia allowed him to stride away without a word.
She saw him pass through the garden and slam the little gate,
but she did not see the agony on his face, or the passionate
gesture with which—when out of eyeshot— he lamented
the voluntary abasement of himself before her. She thought
over his conduct with growing fear. It was not possible that
he was intoxicated—such a vice was the last one of which
she could have believed him guilty. It was more probable
that some effects of the fever, which had recently confined
him to his house, yet lingered. So she thought; and, think-
ing, was alarmed to realize of how much importance the
well-being of this man was to her.
The next day he met her, and, bowing, passed swiftly. This