"And you believed that?"
"Why shouldn't I?"
He stood for a moment, silent and thoughtful.
"Did Claire also tell you that I was everything that was evil? That I was hard and cruel?"
"I think she did."
"And did you believe that?" he asked, reaching out for my hand.
I didn't want to seem afraid of him. So I had to look him honestly and openly in the eye.
"Did you believe that?" he repeated.
"No!" I finally replied. Yet it wasn't what I had intended answering.
"And are you going to believe those other foolish things of me?" he went on. He was much stronger than I was, so I had no way of keeping him from drawing me closer to him.
"Are you?" he repeated.
"No!" I said in a whisper, beginning to feel like a snow-man in a March rain-shower. He was no longer humble, by this time, but his old masterful self again.
"And do you hate me?" he demanded, taking me in his arms.
I tried to speak calmly, but I wasn't able to.
"No," I said, with a sob of surrender. And hav-
