It lay beneath them all, wrapped in tissue-paper, as it had passed
from his hand to hers, and for long she strove to bring herself to
slip the tiny packet unopened into an envelope and seal it down--yet
could not.
At last--it was towards midnight--she yielded to the force that
compelled. Against her will she unfolded the shielding paper and held
that which it contained upon the palm of her hand. Burning rubies,
red as heart's blood, ardent as flame, flashed and glinted in the
lamp-light. "OMNIA VINCIT AMOR"--how the words scorched her memory!
And she had wondered once if they were true!
She knew now! She knew now! He had forced her to realise it. He had
captured her, had kindled within her--by what magic she knew not--the
undying Against her will, in spite of her utmost resistance, he had
done this thing. Above and beyond and through her fiercest hatred, he
had conquered her quivering heart. He had let her go again, but not
till he had blasted her happiness for ever. None other could ever
dominate her as this man dominated. None other could ever kindle in
her--or ever quench--the torch that this man's hand had lighted.
And this was Love--this hunger that could never be satisfied, this
craving which would not be stifled or ignored--Love triumphant,
invincible, immortal--the thing she had striven to slay at its
birth, but which had lived on in spite of her, growing, spreading,
enveloping, till she was lost, till she was suffocated, in its
immensity.
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