He seemed very tall to her, she
saw the glisten of his whitish eyebrows, that met between his brows.
'How do you like it?' he said.
He seemed to be laughing inside himself, quite unconsciously. She
looked at him. He was a phenomenon to her, not a human being: a sort of
creature, greedy.
'I like it very much,' she replied.
'Who do you like best downstairs?' he asked, standing tall and
glistening above her, with his glistening stiff hair erect.
'Who do I like best?' she repeated, wanting to answer his question, and
finding it difficult to collect herself. 'Why I don't know, I don't
know enough about them yet, to be able to say. Who do YOU like best?'
'Oh, I don't care--I don't like or dislike any of them. It doesn't
matter about me. I wanted to know about you.'
'But why?' she asked, going rather pale. The abstract, unconscious
smile in his eyes was intensified.
'I wanted to know,' he said.
She turned aside, breaking the spell. In some strange way, she felt he
was getting power over her.
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