"Is it finished? Let me look! Yes, yes,
very good! Quite good!" They were pleased enough, and drew the artist
away with them to the buffet.
Suddenly Julien was with her and had closed the door. He was hurried,
excited, and it seemed as though he said what he could no longer
contain, as though the thought biggest in his mind broke in a bound from
him. He was white and he exclaimed: "It's terrible how _much_ you could
hurt me if you would!"
He seemed to close his eyes a little then and lean his head towards her.
She looked at the drooping, half-lit head, and she knew that she had him
without fear of escape. Knew too, that the moment was brief. Their recent,
undeclared silence brooded as though still with them, half regretful and
departing angel. "You will have other beauties," she said to her heart,
"but none like this silence."
They were breathless. The ice had gone from the lake and the ship had
not yet set sail. In a dream she moved down to the beach. She saw him
open his eyes and stare at her incredulously. "I am going to break this
beauty," she breathed alone, and put out her hand and launched the ship.
He was by her side, the silence broken, the voyage begun.
CHAPTER X
FANNY ROBBED AND RESCUED
Clouds, yellow, mauve and blue, hung ominously over the road to Nancy.
The valley was filled with shades, but the road itself gleamed like a
bleached bone in a ditch.
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