She went into his arms, but when he held her closest
she sometimes seemed farthest away.
"I want you now."
"I want to be engaged a long time, Louis. We have so much to learn
about each other."
He thought that rather childish. But whatever had been his motive
in the beginning, he was desperately in love with her by that time,
and because of that he frightened her sometimes. He was less sure
of himself, too, even after she had accepted him, and to prove his
continued dominance over her he would bully her.
"Come here," he would say, from the hearth rug, or by the window.
"Certainly not."
"Come here."
Sometimes she went, to be smothered in his hot embrace; sometimes
she did not.
But her infatuation persisted, although there were times when his
inordinate vitality and his caresses gave her a sense of physical
weariness, times when sheer contact revolted her. He seemed always
to want to touch her. Fastidiously reared, taught a sort of
aloofness from childhood, Lily found herself wondering if all men
in love were like that, always having to be held off.
CHAPTER XX
Ellen was staying at the Boyd house. She went downstairs the morning
after her arrival, and found the bread--bakery bread--toasted and
growing cold on the table, while a slice of ham, ready to be cooked,
was not yet on the fire, and Mrs.
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