Something of confidence--something of the
innocence that comes not from ignorance of evil but from a
mind singularly uncontaminated--blinded her to the danger of
her position.
Loder, waiting apprehensively for some aid, some expression of
opinion, became gradually conscious of this lack of realization.
Moved by a fresh impulse, he crossed the small space that
divided them and caught her hands.
"Eve," he said, gently, "I have been trying to analyze myself
and give you the results; but I sha'n't try any more; I shall
be quite plain with you.
"From the first moment I took your husband's place I was
ambitious. You unconsciously aroused the feeling when you
brought me Fraide's message on the first night. You aroused
it by your words--but more strongly, though more obscurely, by
your underlying antagonism. On that night, though I did not
know it, I took up my position--I made my determination. Do
you know what that determination was?"
She shook her head.
"It was the desire to stamp out Chilcote's footmarks with my
own--to prove that personality is the great force capable of
everything.
Pages:
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431