But what could a man coming out of jail do? An old
man too. And then--what sort of man? What would become of them both?
Anthony shuddered slightly and the faint smile with which Flora had
entered the room faded on her lips. She was used to his impetuous
tenderness. She was no longer afraid of it. But she had never seen him
look like this before, and she suspected at once some new cruelty of
life. He got up with his usual ardour but as if sobered by a momentous
resolve and said:
"No. I can't let you out of my sight. I have seen you. You have told
me your story. You are honest. You have never told me you loved me."
She waited, saying to herself that he had never given her time, that he
had never asked her! And that, in truth, she did not know!
I am inclined to believe that she did not. As abundance of experience is
not precisely her lot in life, a woman is seldom an expert in matters of
sentiment. It is the man who can and generally does "see himself" pretty
well inside and out. Women's self-possession is an outward thing;
inwardly they flutter, perhaps because they are, or they feel themselves
to be, engaged.
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