"
"I suppose in any case you will be leaving Fairlands soon, for the
summer," he returned slowly.
"O listen,"--she cried with quick eagerness--"we are going to Lake
Silence. What's to hinder your coming too? Everybody goes there, you know.
Won't you come?"
"But would it be altogether safe?" He reflected doubtfully.
"Why, of course,--Mr. Taine, Louise, and Jim,--we are all going
together--don't you see? I don't believe you want to go," she pouted. "I
believe you want to forget."
Her alluring manner, the invitation conveyed in her words and voice, the
touch of her hand on his arm, and the nearness of her person, fairly swept
the man off his feet. With quick passion, he caught her hand, and his
words came with reckless heat. "You know that I will not forget you. You
know that I could not, if I would. Do you think that I have been so
engrossed with my brushes and canvas that I have been unconscious of you?
What is that painted thing beside your own beautiful self? Do you think
that because I must turn myself into a machine to make a photograph of
your beauty, I am insensible to its charm? I am not a machine. I am a man;
as you are a woman; and I--"
She checked him suddenly--stepping aside with a quick movement, and the
words, "Hush, some one is coming.
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