"
"Yes--I do! Don't go. Philip--don't go near--her--"
"I must."
"If you do--if you go--h-how can you c-care for me as you say you
do?--when I ask you not to--when I cannot endure--to--"
She turned swiftly and stared across at Alixe; and Alixe, unsteady in
the flushed brilliancy of her youthful beauty, half rose in her seat and
stared back.
Instinctively the young girl's hand tightened on Selwyn's arm: "She--she
is beautiful!" she faltered; but he turned and led her from the table,
following Austin, his sister, and Lansing; and she clung to him almost
convulsively when he halted on the edge of the lawn.
"I must go back," he whispered--"dearest--dearest--I must."
"T-to Gerald? Or--_her_?"
But he only muttered: "They don't know what they're doing. Let me go,
Eileen"--gently detaching her fingers, which left her hands lying in
both of his.
She said, looking up at him: "If you go--if you go--whatever time you
return--no matter what hour--knock at my door. Do you promise? I shall
be awake.
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