Shaken up by the changing moods of passion and tenderness, he must have
been ready for any extravagance of conduct. Knowing the profound silence
each night brought to that nook of the country, I could imagine them
having the feeling of being the only two people on the wide earth. A row
of six or seven lofty elms just across the road opposite the cottage made
the night more obscure in that little garden. If these two could just
make out each other that was all.
"Well! And were you very much terrified?" I asked.
She made me wait a little before she said, raising her eyes: "He was
gentleness itself."
I noticed three abominable, drink-sodden loafers, sallow and dirty, who
had come to range themselves in a row within ten feet of us against the
front of the public-house. They stared at Flora de Barral's back with
unseeing, mournful fixity.
"Let's move this way a little," I proposed.
She turned at once and we made a few paces; not too far to take us out of
sight of the hotel door, but very nearly. I could just keep my eyes on
it. After all, I had not been so very long with the girl.
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