"Sweetheart," he said, following her, but not venturing to lay a
finger upon her, "you _must_ go." His voice was earnest and very
tender.
"The same idea has occurred to me," she said, "but I dislike to hurry.
There is nothing so vulgar as haste." Her old mocking tone had
returned, and in despair he threw himself back into his seat.
Something in the pathetic grace of his attitude and the beauty of his
sensitive poetic face smote upon the heart that, with all its
perversity, belonged alone to him. She ran to him and knelt at his
side, with her white arms outstretched across his knees, and her
lovely head bowed upon them. The young man realized with sharp
distinctness that the fear of society is not the strongest feeling
that can animate the human frame. He uttered a few passionate words of
endearment, and would have gathered her closely into his breast, but
she, without looking up, sprang suddenly from him and, seizing her
cloak, sped wind-like to her home.
But there were consequences. Madame Grundy, who is chief among those
for whom Satan finds some mischief still, openly declared that there
were some forms of imprudence that could be tolerated and some that
could not, and that this particular indiscretion must, with reluctance,
be relegated to the latter class.
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