That great, roistering, brown man would fold her to himself--she would yield to him every inch of her palpitant, passionate body.

The thought drove the lover frantic, and he felt that madness lay that way if he dwelt on such fancies for long.

Of a sudden he realized all that she meant to him, and cursed himself anew.

While he had the power to possess her he had dallied and hesitated, but now that he had no voice in it, now that she was irretrievably beyond his reach, he vowed to snatch her and hold her against the world.
As he grew calmer his reason began to dissect the scene that had taken place in the store, and he wondered whether she had been lying to him, after all.

No doubt she had been engaged to the Frenchman, and had always planned to wed Poleon, for that was not out of reason; she might even have set out mischievously to amuse herself with him, but at the recollection of those rapturous hours they had spent together, he declared aloud that she had loved him, and him only.