It would be such a perfectly impossible thing to do in any case, when now he was absolutely indifferent to her and showed it in every way.

It made the whole thing all the more revolting--to have pretended he loved her on that first night! Yes, with certain modifications of classes and races men were all perfectly untrustworthy, if not brutes, and a woman, if she could relax her vigilance, as regards the defense of her person and virtue, could not afford to unbend a fraction as to her emotions! And all the time she was thinking this out she was silent, and Lord Elterton watched her, thrilled with the attraction of the unobtainable.
He saw plainly she had forgotten his very presence, and, though piqued, he grew the more eager.
"I would love to know what you were thinking of," he said softly; and then with great care he pulled a bramble aside so that it should not touch her.

They had turned into a lane beyond the kitchen garden and the park.
Zara started.

She had, indeed, been far away! "I was thinking--" she said, and then she paused for a suitable lie but none came, so she grew confused, and stopped, and hesitated, and then she blurted out, "I was thinking was it possible there could ever be any one whom one could believe ?" Lord Elterton looked at her.

What a strange woman! "Yes," he said simply, "you can believe me when I tell you I have never been so attracted by any one in my life." "Oh! for that!" she answered contemptuously.