Over that sound he caught at length another light rustling, and then the faint creak as she crossed the crazy floor.

He made his face calm--forced his breath to grow more soft and regular.
Then, as if a shadow in which there is warmth had crossed him, he knew that she was leaning above him, close, closer; he could hear her breath.
In a rush of tenderness, he forgot her beauty of eyes and round, strong throat, and supple body--he forgot, and was immersed, like an eagle winging into a radiant sunset cloud, in a sense only of her being, quite divorced from the flesh, the mysterious rare power which made her Sally Fortune, and would not change no matter what body might contain it.
It was blindingly intense, and when his senses cleared he knew that she was gone.

He felt as if he had awakened from a night full of dreams more vivid than life--dreams which left him too weak to cope with reality.
For a time he dared not move.

He was feeling for himself like a man who fumbles his way down a dark passage dangerous with obstructions.

At last it was as if his hand touched the knob of a door; he swung it open, entered a room full of dazzling light--himself.