" Her tone quickened with a touch of excitement.
"You needn't keep silent and look at me," she said. "I know
quite well what I am saying--though I don't understand it,
though I have no real proof--" She paused, momentarily
disconcerted by her companion's silent and steady gaze, and in
the pause a curious and unexpected thing occurred.
Loder laughed suddenly--a full, confident, reassured laugh.
All the web that the past half-hour had spun about him, all
the intolerable sense of an impending crash, lifted suddenly.
He saw his way clearly--and it was Lillian who had opened his
eyes.
Still looking at her, he smiled--a smile of reliant
determination, such as Chilcote had never worn in his life.
And with a calm gesture he released his hand.
"The greatest charm of woman is her imagination," he said,
quietly. "Without it there would be no color in life; we
would come into and drop out of it with the same uninteresting
tone of drab reality." He paused and smiled again.
At his smile, Lillian involuntarily drew back, the color
deepening in her cheeks.
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