She made a vehement gesture of denial. "Of course not. I--I'd be a little
beast if I didn't, specially after the way you helped me with Cinders
long ago. I never forgot that--never! Only I do think--before you marry
me--you ought to know how horrid I can be. It--it's buying a pig in a
poke if you don't."

He laughed again at that in a fashion that emboldened Chris to raise her
head.

"I am quite in earnest," she told him, in a tone that tried to be
indignant. "You'll find me out presently. And when you do--"

She stopped with a gasp. His arms were about her, holding her as she
sat. He looked straight down into the shining blue eyes. "When I do,
Chris--" he said.

She met his look quite bravely. She was even smiling rather tremulously
herself. "You will get a stick and beat me," she said. "I know. People
who have eyes like steel never make allowances for those who haven't!"

She got no further, for quite suddenly Trevor Mordaunt dropped his
self-restraint like an impeding cloak and caught her to his heart. For
the fraction of a second her fear came back, she almost made as if she
would resist him; and then in a moment it was gone, lost in a wonder that
left no room for anything else. For he kissed her, once and once only, so
passionately, so burningly, so possessively, that it seemed to Chris as
if, without her own volition, even half against her will, she thereby
became his own. He had dominated her, he had won her, almost before she
had had time to realize that there was a stranger within her gates.