5/15 Good-bye." She was about to sign her name, but did not do so; it was better that they should remain strangers to each other. Listening, with a heart that beat like a sledge-hammer falling on an anvil, she heard him open the door, heard it close again; she waited almost; breathlessly, and presently his step crossed the corridor, and a piece of paper slid to her feet. She picked it up and read: "To refuse your generous gift, to disobey your command--for to me it is an absolute command--would be ungrateful; would be worse. I feel as if you had taken my life into your hands and had the right to dispose of it. |