a sudden impulse he put an arm about her, drew her to him and kissed
her. She trembled at his caress, while he smiled at her emotion.

"A kiss is nothing, Manella!" he said--"We kiss children as I kiss
you! You are a child,--a child-woman. Physically you are a Juno,--
mentally you are an infant! By and by you will grow up,--and you
will be glad I did no more than kiss you! It's getting late,--you
must go home."

He released her and put her gently away from him. Then, as he saw
her eyes still uplifted questioningly to his face, he laughed.

"Upon my word!" he exclaimed--"I am making a nice fool of myself!
Actually wasting time on a woman. Go home, Manella, go home! If you
are wise you won't stop here another minute! See now! You are full
of curiosity--all women are! You want to know why I stay up here in
this hill cabin by myself instead of staying at the 'Plaza.' You
think I'm a rich Englishman. I'm not. No Englishman is ever rich,--
not up to his own desires. He wants the earth and all that therein
is--does the Englishman, and of course he can't have it. He rather
grudges America her large slice of rich plum-pudding territory,
forgetting that he could have had it himself for the price of tea.
But I don't grudge anybody anything--America is welcome to the whole
bulk as far as I'm concerned--Britain ditto,--let them both eat and
be filled. All _I_ want is to be left alone. Do you hear that,
Manella? To be left alone! Particularly by women. That's one reason
why I came here. This cabin is supposed to be a sort of tuberculosis
'shelter,' where a patient in hopeless condition comes with a
special nurse to die. I don't want a nurse, and I'm not going to
die. Tubercles don't touch me--they don't flourish on my soil. So