She dropped her voice: 'You mean, permit you to do really and in earnest what he only seemed to do in the play.'
Somerset signified by a look that such had been his thought.
Paula was silent. 'No,' she murmured at last. 'That cannot be. He did not, nor must you.'
It was said none the less decidedly for being spoken low.
'You quite resent such a suggestion: you have a right to. I beg your pardon, not for speaking of it, but for thinking it.'
'I don't resent it at all, and I am not offended one bit. But I am not the less of opinion that it is possible to be premature in some things; and to do this just now would be premature. I know what you would say--that you would not have asked it, but for that unfortunate improvisation of it in the play. But that I was not responsible for, and therefore owe no reparation to you now.... Listen!'
'Paula--Paula! Where in the world are you?' was heard resounding along the corridor in the voice of her aunt. 'Our friends are all ready to leave, and you will surely bid them good-night!'
'I must be gone--I won't ring for you to be shown out--come this way.'
'But how will you get on in repeating the play tomorrow evening if that interpolation is against your wish?' he asked, looking her hard in the face.
'I'll think it over during the night. Come to-morrow morning to help me settle. But,' she added, with coy yet genial independence, 'listen to me. Not a word more about a--what you asked for, mind! I don't want to go so far, and I will not--not just yet anyhow--I mean perhaps never. You must promise that, or I cannot see you again alone.'
'It shall be as you request.'
'Very well. And not a word of this to a soul. My aunt suspects: but she is a good aunt and will say nothing. Now that is clearly understood, I should be glad to consult with you tomorrow early. I will come to you in the studio or Pleasance as soon as I am disengaged.'
She took him to a little chamfered doorway in the corner, which opened into a descending turret; and Somerset went down. When he had unfastened the door at the bottom, and stepped into the lower corridor, she asked, 'Are you down?' And on receiving an affirmative reply she closed the top door.