She half closed her eyes.  The spell of summer was in the air, the spell of life was stirring slowly in her frozen blood.

“Ah!  Arnold,” she murmured, “I do not think that you must talk like that.  It makes me feel so much like yielding.  Somehow, the dreams out here seem even more wonderful than the visions which come floating up the river.  There’s more life here.  Don’t you feel it?  Something seems to creep into your heart, into your pulses, and tell you what life is.”

He made no answer.  The world of the last few throbbing weeks seemed far enough away with him, too.  He picked a handful of clover and thrust it into the bosom of her gown.  Then he rose reluctantly to his feet and held out his hands.

“I think,” he said, “that the great gates of freedom must be somewhere out here, but just now one is forced to remember that we are slaves.”

He drew her to her feet, placed the stick in her hand, and supported her other arm.  They walked for a step or two down the narrow path which led through the clover field to the lane below.  Then, with a little laugh, he caught her up in his arms.

“It will be quicker if I carry you, Ruth,” he proposed.  “The weeds twine their way all the time around your stick.”

She linked her arms around his neck; her cheek touched his for a moment, and he was surprised to find it as hot as fire.  He stepped out bravely enough, but with every step it seemed to him that she was growing heavier.  Her hands were still tightly linked around his neck, but her limbs were inert.  She seemed to be falling away.  He held her tighter, his breath began to grow shorter.  The perfume of the clover, fragrant and delicate, grew stronger with every step they took.  Somehow he felt that that walk along the narrow path was carving its way into his life.  The fingers at the back of his neck were cold, yet she, too, was breathing as though she had been running.  Her eyes were half closed.  He looked once into her face, bent over her until his lips nearly touched hers.  He set his teeth hard.  Some instinct warned him of the dangers of the moment.  Her stick slipped and a lump arose in his throat.  The moment had passed.  He kissed her softly upon the forehead.

“Dear Ruth!” he whispered.

She turned very pale and very soon afterward she insisted upon being set down.  They walked slowly to where the motor car was waiting at the corner of the lane.  Ruth began to talk nervously.

“It was charming of Mrs. Weatherley,” she declared, “to lend you this car.  Tell me how it happened, Arnie?”

“I simply told her,” he replied, “that I was going to take a friend, who needed a little fresh air, out into the country, and she insisted upon sending this car instead of letting me hire a taxicab.  It was over the telephone and I couldn’t refuse.  Besides, Mr. Weatherley was in the office, and he insisted upon it, too.  They only use this one in London, and I know that they are away somewhere for the week-end.”