He's what people would call a gentleman. He seemed on the point of
volunteering a tale of his adventures--for which I didn't ask him--but
remarked that it was a long story; some other time, perhaps.
"'I suppose you would like to know who I am?' he asked me.
"I told him I would leave it to him, in a tone which, between gentlemen,
could have left no doubt in his mind. He raised himself on his elbow--he
was lying down on the camp-bed--and said:
"'I am he who is--'"
Lena seemed not to be listening; but when Heyst paused, she turned her
head quickly to him. He took it for a movement of inquiry, but in this
he was wrong. A great vagueness enveloped her impressions, but all her
energy was concentrated on the struggle that she wanted to take upon
herself, in a great exaltation of love and self-sacrifice, which is
woman's sublime faculty; altogether on herself, every bit of it, leaving
him nothing, not even the knowledge of what she did, if that were
possible. She would have liked to lock him up by some stratagem. Had
she known of some means to put him to sleep for days she would have used
incantations or philtres without misgivings. He seemed to her too good
for such contacts, and not sufficiently equipped. This last feeling had
nothing to do with the material fact of the revolver being stolen. She
could hardly appreciate that fact at its full value.
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