THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT
glance turned now upon the hills, now upward at the net of stars, as if she found these things as real as himself, as near to her and as awake to delight.
When she looked again at Carron it was with the expectation that he saw what was around them as she saw it; but the fine senses in her that made her feel kinship to inanimate things was dilated beyond his following. He felt the influence of the moon as a bath, but it seemed to have entered into her veins, making her more than woman. The creature whom he had thought petted and tamed beneath his hand, had sprung away from him. Her eyes, which had seen farther than his, reflected more, showed living thoughts undiscovered of him, alluring in their half concealment, seeming to peer at him from just beneath the surface. He wanted to conquer this untamed alien and make it his own. No thought prompted that this is a thing no one makes his own; since, conquered, it dies or changes into something else. But of change who would think, with the moon and the woman in his eyes? He was losing his exact sense of direction. He was unaware of how far the objects in the landscape had retreated from his conscious vision, until her hand upon his arm startled him. The fingers of fate could not have fallen more prompt and soft nor
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