"
He paused. She stood still, waiting for more with the stillness of
extreme delight, wishing to prolong the sensation.
"It astonished me," he added. "It went as straight to my heart as though
you had smiled for the purpose of dazzling me. I felt as if I had never
seen a smile before in my life. I thought of it after I left you. It
made me restless."
"It did all that?" came her voice, unsteady, gentle, and incredulous.
"If you had not smiled as you did, perhaps I should not have come out
here tonight," he said, with his playful earnestness of tone. "It was
your triumph."
He felt her lips touch his lightly, and the next moment she was gone.
Her white dress gleamed in the distance, and then the opaque darkness of
the house seemed to swallow it. Heyst waited a little before he went
the same way, round the corner, up the steps of the veranda, and into
his room, where he lay down at last--not to sleep, but to go over in his
mind all that had been said at their meeting.
"It's exactly true about that smile," he thought. There he had spoken
the truth to her; and about her voice, too. For the rest--what must be
must be.
A great wave of heat passed over him. He turned on his back, flung his
arms crosswise on the broad, hard bed, and lay still, open-eyed under
the mosquito net, till daylight entered his room, brightened swiftly,
and turned to unfailing sunlight.
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