But it all ended with a ring at his door-bell, a girl in furs all flecked with snow, springing swiftly into his studio; a moment's hesitation--then the girl and her furs in his arms, her cold pink cheeks against his face--a brief moment of utter happiness--for she was on her way to business--a swift, silent caress, then eyes searching eyes in silent promise--in reluctant farewell for an hour or two.
But it left him to face the problems of the day with a new sense of helplessness--the first confused sensation that hers was the stronger nature, the dominant personality--although he did not definitely understand this.
Because, how could he understand it of a young girl so soft, so yielding, so sweet, so shy and silent in the imminence of passion when her consenting lips trembled and grew fragrant in half-awakened response to his.
How could he believe it--conscious of what he had made of himself through sheer will and persistent?
How could he credit it--remembering what he already stood for in the world, where he stood, how he had arrived by the rigid road of self-denial; how he had mounted, steadily, undismayed, unperturbed, undeterred by the clamour of envy, of hostility, unseduced by the honey of flattery?
Upright, calm, self-confident, he had forged on straight ahead, following nobody--battled steadily along the upward path until--out of the void, suddenly he had come up against a blank wall.
That wall which had halted, perplexed, troubled, dismayed, terrified him because he was beginning to believe it to be the boundary which marked his own limitations, suddenly had become a transparent barrier through which he could see.

And what he saw on the other side was an endless vista leading into infinity.

But the path was guarded; Love stood sentinel there.

And that was what he saw ahead of him now, and he knew that he might pass on if Love willed it--and that he would never care to pass on alone.

But that he _could_ not go forward, ignoring Love, neither occurred to him nor would he have believed it if it had.