And moreover--yes--you won't." It was an appeal, of a sudden, and she took it in.

"As a favour to you ?" "Well--since you ask me." "Anything, everything you ask," she smiled.

"I shan't know then--never.

Thank you," she added with peculiar gentleness as she turned away.
The sound of it lingered with him, making him fairly feel as if he had been tripped up and had a fall.

In the very act of arranging with her for his independence he had, under pressure from a particular perception, inconsistently, quite stupidly, committed himself, and, with her subtlety sensitive on the spot to an advantage, she had driven in by a single word a little golden nail, the sharp intention of which he signally felt.