He had his laugh out now, Mrs. Schwarz joining in with a polite, bewildered cackle, but he stopped suddenly with a frown and watched the girl as she went quietly on with her work, as seemingly shut away from these two as if she had been deaf and dumb and blind. A creature of exquisite fashioning in a world of her own. Her indifference piqued his dominating spirit and made him long to subdue her to himself; to crush this beautiful dignity of maidenhood and force her to bow to him as super-man.
“She is very beautiful and absurdly proud, but I find her amusing,” he said to Mrs. Schwarz, and then in a tone as if he were lightly bargaining for her soul, he added lazily: “Just have it understood that she belongs to me! You understand? I may come soon again.”
Then he turned to Hilda and, in bea
