All his energies were centred to one mighty impulse.
At last the door closed and he stood alone with the disordered table and the pushed back chairs, doggedly gathering himself.

Then he went to the doors and with a hand to each, pushed them swiftly apart.
She stood at the farther side of the room.

She seemed to have fled there, and yet she leaned toward him breathless, again with the under lip caught fast in its quivering--helpless, piteously helpless.

It was this that stayed him.

Had she utterly shrunk away, even had he found her denying, defiant--the aroused man had prevailed.