And then, before he reached the window, she spoke:
"Please wait!"
He turned instantly, and came back to her.
"Come!" he said. "You are going to be reasonable after all."
"What is it that you want?" Her desperation sounded in her voice. She
looked at him with eyes of wild appeal. Her defiance was all gone. The
smile went out of Hyde's face, and suddenly she saw the primitive savage
in possession. She had seen it before, but till that moment she had
never realized quite what it was.
"What do I want?" he said. "I want you, and you know it. That fellow
Baring is not the man for you. You are going to give him up. Do you
hear? Or else--if you prefer it--he will give you up. I don't care which
it is, but one or the other it shall be. Now do we understand one
another?"
Hope stared at him, speechless, horror-stricken, helpless!
He came nearer to her, but she did not recoil, for as a serpent holds
its prey, so he held her. She wanted to protest, to resist him fiercely,
but she was mute. Even the power to flee was taken from her. She could
only stand as if chained to the ground, stiff and paralyzed, awaiting
his pleasure. No nightmare terror had ever so obsessed her.
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