She felt, as most proud, sensitive women feel
the first time they are asked for what may be interpreted into a _gage
d'amour_. The tribute may be nominal, and the suzerain may be lenient
indeed, but none the less does it establish vassalage.
Royston interpreted her reluctance aright, and went on with an
earnestness very unusual with him: for once it was honest and true.
"Pray trust me. The moment I cease to value that _souvenir_ as it
deserves, on my honor I will return it."
He was fated to triumph all through that day. When Cecil was alone she
put something away with a very unnecessary carefulness, for surely
nothing can be more valueless than a glove that has lost its mate.
CHAPTER XIII.
I am almost ashamed to confess how deeply the scene she had witnessed
affected Cecil Tresilyan. The exhibition of Keene's fierce temper ought
certainly to have warned, if it did not disgust her. She could only
think--"It was for my sake that he was so angry, and he yielded to my
first word."
There is rather a heavy run just now against the "physical force"
doctrine. It seems to me that some of its opponents are somewhat
hypercritical.
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