ROBERT DUNN’S ENEMY

When he had said this he went a step or two aside and sat down on the stump of a tree.  He was very agitated and disturbed for he had not in the very least meant to say such a thing, he had not even known that he really felt like that.

It was, indeed, a rush and power of quite unexpected passion that had swept him away and made him for the moment lose all control of himself.  Ella showed much more composure.  She had become extraordinarily pale, but otherwise she did not appear in any way agitated.

She remained silent, her eyes bent on the ground, her only movement a gesture by which she rubbed softly and in turn each of her wrists as though they hurt her.

“Well, can’t you say something?” he asked roughly, annoyed by her persistent silence.

“I don’t see that there’s anything for me to say,” she answered.

“Oh, well now then,” he muttered; quite disconcerted.

She raised her eyes from the ground, and for the first time looked full at him, in her expression both curiosity and resentment.

“It is perfectly intolerable,” she said with a heaving breast.  “Will you tell me who you are?”

“I’ve told you one thing,” he answered sullenly, his eyes on fire.  “I should have thought that was enough.  I’ll tell you nothing more.”

“I think you are the most horrid man I ever met,” she cried.  “And the very, very ugliest—­all that hair on your face so that no one can see anything else.  What are you like when you cut it off?”

“Does that matter?” he asked, in the same gruff and surly manner.

“I should think it matters a good deal when I ask you,” she exclaimed.  “Do you expect any one to care for a man she has never seen—­nothing but hair.  You hurt my wrists awfully that night,” she added resentfully.  “And you’ve never even hinted you’re sorry.”

His reply was unexpected and it disconcerted her greatly and for the first time, for he caught both her wrists in his hands and kissed them passionately where the cords had been.

“You mustn’t do that, please don’t do that,” she said quickly, trying to release herself.

Her strength was nothing to his and he stood up and put his arm around her and strained her to him in an embrace so passionate and powerful she could not have resisted it though she had wished to.

But no thought of resistance came to her, since for the moment she had lost all consciousness of everything save the strange thrill of his bright, clear eyes looking so closely into hers, of his strong arms holding her so firmly.

He released her, or rather she at last freed herself by an effort he did not oppose, and she fled away down the path.

She had an impression that her hair would come down and that that would make her look a fright, and she put up her hands hurriedly to secure it.  She never looked back to where he stood, breathing heavily and looking after her and thinking not of her, but of two dead men whom he had seen of late.