Then slowly he sat down beside her, and gradually he put his arm round her waist. She shrank from him, back against the stonework of the embrasure, but she could not shrink away from his grasp. She put up her hand to impede his, but his hand, like his character and his words, was full of power. It would not be impeded. "Alice," he said, as he pressed her close with his arm, "the battle is over now, and I have won it."
"You win everything,--always," she said, whispering to him, as she still shrank from his embrace.
"In winning you I have won everything." Then he put his face over her and pressed his lips to hers. I wonder whether he was made happier when he knew that no other touch had profaned those lips since last he had pressed them?
Then slowly he sat down beside her, and gradually he put his arm round her waist. She shrank from him, against the stonework, but she could not shrink away from his grasp. She put up her hand to impede his, but his hand, like his character and his words, would not be impeded.
"Alice," he said, as he pressed her close with his arm, "the battle is over now, and I have won it."
"You win everything - always," she said, whispering to him, as she still shrank from his embrace.
"In winning you I have won everything." Then he pressed his lips to hers.