She held her arms round his neck, in a triumph of pity. And
her pity for him was as cold as stone, its deepest motive was hate of
him, and fear of his power over her, which she must always counterfoil.
'Say you love me,' she pleaded. 'Say you will love me for ever--won't
you--won't you?'
But it was her voice only that coaxed him. Her senses were entirely
apart from him, cold and destructive of him. It was her overbearing
WILL that insisted.
'Won't you say you'll love me always?' she coaxed. 'Say it, even if it
isn't true--say it Gerald, do.'
'I will love you always,' he repeated, in real agony, forcing the words
out.
She gave him a quick kiss.
'Fancy your actually having said it,' she said with a touch of
raillery.
He stood as if he had been beaten.
'Try to love me a little more, and to want me a little less,' she said,
in a half contemptuous, half coaxing tone.
The darkness seemed to be swaying in waves across his mind, great waves
of darkness plunging across his mind.
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