For a breathless stretch of time she was frozen to inertness by sheer terror.

Would that old lawless spirit utter new blasphemies, giving fearful point to them now?
Would the old eager hand come again upon hers with a boy's pleading and a man's power?
And what of her own secret guilt?
She had cherished the memory of him and across space had responded to him through that imperious need of her heart.

Swiftly in this significant moment she for the first time saw herself with critical eyes--saw that in her fancied security she had unwittingly enthroned the hidden traitor.

More and more poignant grew her apprehension as she felt his eyes upon her and divined that he was about to speak.

With a little steadying of the lips, with eyes that widened at him in the dim light, she waited for the sound of his voice--waited as one waits for something "terrible and dear"-- the whirlwind that might destroy utterly, or pass--to leave her forever exulting in a new sense of power against elemental forces.
"Would you mind if I smoked, Nance ?" She stared stupidly.