pretty. The lamp-light flashed on her bright cheeks, and she smiled
at him as she passed. And Thyrsis' heart gave a great leap, and the
blood surged to his face; he turned and looked, and saw that she was
gazing over her shoulder at him.

He stopped, and turned to follow, his meditations all gone, and gone
his resolutions. A trembling seized him, and every nerve of him
tingled. He could feel his heart as if it were underneath his
throat.

In a moment more he was beside the girl. "May I join you?" he asked,
and she replied with a nod.

Thyrsis moved beside her and took her arm in his. A moment later
they came to a place where the road was dark, and he put his arm
about her waist; she made no resistance.

"I--I've seen you often before," she said.

"Yes," he replied, "I have seen you." And he suddenly remembered a
remark that he had heard about her. There was a large summer-hotel
in this neighborhood, which as usual had brought all the corruptions
of the city in its train; and a youth whom Thyrsis had met there had
pointed out the girl with the remark, "She's a little beast."

And this idea, as it came to him, swept him away in a fierce tide of
madness; he bent suddenly down and whispered into her ear. They were
words that never in Thyrsis' life had passed his lips before.

The girl pushed him away; but she laughed.