"
"You knew before I did myself."
"_Mon enfant_, I'm neither blind nor a fool. As they say in this
country, 'love and a cough cannot be hidden.' I was sure about Vardri,
but about you;--no, one couldn't say. When you came out here you were
a sexless creature with a brain. It did not seem likely that you would
develop into the ordinary girl with a lover."
It was the only way he could keep a hold upon himself, by keeping up a
pose of cynicism. The fragrance of her hair, the curved mouth so close
to his own, maddened him. He who could have been her lover had been
only her guardian, her taskmaster. And now she was ready to give
herself to a boy, who thought life was a romance, and who would
probably sit at her feet reading poetry while they both starved.
"You have been together often?"
Her head drooped. "Yes. I should have told you before."
"What plans have you made? I suppose it will be the usual mad scheme
of running away. I ought to betray you, of course, but--"
"We haven't arranged anything yet; there is plenty of time.
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