I meant to tell her that she was out of her senses, but I changed my mind.

That was long ago, before I knew you--when I was eighteen." "Ever since you were a boy!" The look of wonder was not quite gone from her face yet, but she was beginning to understand more clearly, though still very far from distinctly.

It did not occur to her once that such things could be temptations to the brilliant young leader whom every woman admired and every man flattered, and that only his devoted love for her had kept him out of ignoble adventures since he had grown to be a man.

Had she seen that, she would have loved him even better, if it were possible.

It was all, as she had said, shameless and abominable.