“Ah!” The word was a wrung sound, half cry, half sob.  His roses fell suddenly and scattered upon the floor between them.  Columbine’s hands covered her face.

She stood for a second or two in tense silence, then under her breath she spoke.  “You don’t believe—­that—­of me!”

“I do, then,” asserted Rufus, in his deep voice a note that was almost aggressive.

She lifted her face suddenly, even fiercely, showing him the shamed blush that burned there.  “You didn’t believe it—­that night!” she said.

His eyes met hers with a certain stubbornness.  “All right.  I didn’t,” he said.

Her look became a challenge.  “Then why—­how—­have you come to change your mind?”

He faced her steadily.  “Maybe I know you better than I knew you then,” he said slowly.

She made a sharp gesture as if pierced by an intolerable pain.  “And that—­that has made a difference to your—­your intentions!”

He moved also at that.  His red brows came together.  “You’re quite wrong,” he said, his voice very low.  “That night—­I know—­I was beyond myself, I was mad.  But since then I’ve some to my senses.  And—­I love you too much to harm you.  That’s the truth.  I’d love you anyway—­whatever you were.  It’s just my nature to.”

His hands clenched with the words; he spoke with strong effort; but his eyes looked deeply into hers, and they held no passion.  They were still and quiet as the summer sea below them.

Columbine stood facing him as if at bay, but she must have felt the influence of his restraint, for she showed no fear.  “There’s no such thing as love,” she said bitterly.  “You dress it up and call it that.  But all the time it’s something quite different.  And I tell you this”—­recklessly she flung the words—­“that if it hadn’t been for that tidal wave I’d be just what you took me for that night, what Aunt Liza thinks I am this minute.  I wasn’t keeping back—­anything, and”—­she uttered a sudden wild laugh—­“if I’ve kept my virtue, I’ve lost my innocence.  I know—­I know now—­just what the thing you call love is worth!  And nothing will ever make me forget it!”

She stopped, quivering from head to foot, passionate protest in every line.

But the blue eyes that watched her never wavered.  The man’s face was rock-like in its steadfast calm.  He did not speak for a full minute after the utterance of her wild words.  Then very steadily, very forcibly, he answered her.  “I’ll tell you, shall I, what the thing I call love is like?” He turned with a sweep of the arm and pointed out to the harbour beyond the quay.  “It’s just like that.  It’s a wall to keep off the storms.  It’s a safe haven where nothing hurtful can reach you.  You’re not bound to give yourself to it, but once given you’re safe.”

“Not bound!” Sharply she broke in upon him.  “Not bound—­when you made me promise—­”

He dropped his arm to his side.  “I set you free from that promise,” he said.