Chapter 106

He paused, and, standing still, he felt the rain on his face. He was conscious of a sense of struggle, of the wilful lover in him urging a claim. He was conscious, also, of her leaning against him with a kind of pathetic rigidity, and it seemed to him that two men in him held her. His mouth touched her hair. It was all wet with the rain. And there ran through him an instant, infinite tenderness. “Mary, I’ll do just what you wish. But, my dear, I want you to be happy.” She pressed her wet head against his face. “It’…