He thought she wanted him to talk to her so, to tease her with suggestions of this concealed feeling of his—­this strong liking.  He wondered what could come of any such understanding as this, anyhow?

“Oh, I just wanted to see how you danced,” she said, tamely, the force of her original feeling having been weakened by a thought of what she was doing.  He noted the change and smiled.  It was lovely to be dancing with her.  He had not thought mere dancing could hold such charm.

“You like me?” he said, suddenly, as the music drew to its close.

She thrilled from head to toe at the question.  A piece of ice dropped down her back could not have startled her more.  It was apparently tactless, and yet it was anything but tactless.  She looked up quickly, directly, but his strong eyes were too much for her.

“Why, yes,” she answered, as the music stopped, trying to keep an even tone to her voice.  She was glad they were walking toward a chair.

“I like you so much,” he said, “that I have been wondering if you really like me.”  There was an appeal in his voice, soft and gentle.  His manner was almost sad.

“Why, yes,” she replied, instantly, returning to her earlier mood toward him.  “You know I do.”

“I need some one like you to like me,” he continued, in the same vein.  “I need some one like you to talk to.  I didn’t think so before—­but now I do.  You are beautiful—­wonderful.”

“We mustn’t,” she said.  “I mustn’t.  I don’t know what I’m doing.”  She looked at a young man strolling toward her, and asked:  “I have to explain to him.  He’s the one I had this dance with.”

Cowperwood understood.  He walked away.  He was quite warm and tense now—­almost nervous.  It was quite clear to him that he had done or was contemplating perhaps a very treacherous thing.  Under the current code of society he had no right to do it.  It was against the rules, as they were understood by everybody.  Her father, for instance—­his father—­every one in this particular walk of life.  However, much breaking of the rules under the surface of things there might be, the rules were still there.  As he had heard one young man remark once at school, when some story had been told of a boy leading a girl astray and to a disastrous end, “That isn’t the way at all.”

Still, now that he had said this, strong thoughts of her were in his mind.  And despite his involved social and financial position, which he now recalled, it was interesting to him to see how deliberately and even calculatingly—­and worse, enthusiastically—­he was pumping the bellows that tended only to heighten the flames of his desire for this girl; to feed a fire that might ultimately consume him—­and how deliberately and resourcefully!

Aileen toyed aimlessly with her fan as a black-haired, thin-faced young law student talked to her, and seeing Norah in the distance she asked to be allowed to run over to her.