He cut short his laugh and said
curtly:
"We had better go down as we came."
She followed him into the forest. The advance of the afternoon had
filled it with gloom. Far away a slant of light between the trees closed
the view. All was dark beyond. Heyst stopped.
"No reason to hurry, Lena," he said in his ordinary, serenely polite
tones. "We return unsuccessful. I suppose you know, or at least can
guess, what was my object in coming up there?"
"No, I can't guess, dear," she said, and smiled, noticing with
emotion that his breast was heaving as if he had been out of breath.
Nevertheless, he tried to command his speech, pausing only a little
between the words.
"No? I went up to find Wang. I went up"--he gasped again here, but this
was for the last time--"I made you come with me because I didn't like
to leave you unprotected in the proximity of those fellows." Suddenly he
snatched his cork helmet off his head and dashed it on the ground. "No!"
he cried roughly. "All this is too unreal altogether. It isn't to be
borne! I can't protect you! I haven't the power."
He glared at her for a moment, then hastened after his hat which had
bounded away to some distance. He came back looking at her face, which
was very white.
"I ought to beg your pardon for these antics," he said, adjusting his
hat. "A movement of childish petulance! Indeed, I feel very much like a
child in my ignorance, in my powerlessness, in my want of resource, in
everything except in the dreadful consciousness of some evil hanging
over your head--yours!"
"It's you they are after," she murmured.
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