In an instant he had
recrossed the room and was on his knees beside her trying to take her
hands.
"Consuelo--darling--you do not really mean it! You cannot, you will
not--"
He covered her hands with kisses and pressed them to his heart. For a
few moments she made no movement, but her eyelids quivered. Then she
sprang to her feet, pushing him back violently as he rose with her, and
turning her face from him.
"Go--go!" she cried wildly. "Go--let me never see you again--never,
never!"
Before he could stop her, she had passed him with a rush like a swallow
on the wing and was gone from the room.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Orsino was not in an enviable frame of mind when he left the hotel. It
is easier to bear suffering when one clearly understands all its causes,
and distinguishes just how great a part of it is inevitable and how
great a part may be avoided or mitigated. In the present case there was
much in the situation which it passed his power to analyse or
comprehend. He still possessed the taste for discovering motives in the
actions of others as well as in his own, but many months of a busy life
had dulled the edge of the artificial logic in which he had formerly
delighted, while greatly sharpening his practical wit.
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