The Trespasser

Helena lay in what shadow he afforded. The heat put out all her

thought-activity. Presently she said: 'This heat is terrible, Siegmund. Shall we go down to the water?' They climbed giddily down the cliff path. Already they were somewhat

sun-intoxicated. Siegmund chose the hot sand, where no shade was, on

which to lie.

'Shall we not go under the rocks?' said Helena.

'Look!' he said, 'the sun is beating on the cliffs. It is hotter, more

suffocating, there.' So they lay down in the glare, Helena watching the foam retreat slowly

with a cool splash; Siegmund thinking. The naked body of heat

was dreadful.

'My arms, Siegmund,' said she. 'They feel as if they were dipped in

fire.' Siegmund took them, without a word, and hid them under his coat.

'Are you sure it is not bad for you--your head, Siegmund? Are you sure?' He laughed stupidly.

'That is all right,' he said. He knew that the sun was burning through

him, and doing him harm, but he wanted the intoxication.

As he looked wistfully far away over the sea at Helena's mist-curtain,

he said: 'I _think_ we should be able to keep together if'--he faltered--'if only

I could have you a little longer. I have never had you ...' Some sound of failure, some tone telling her it was too late, some ring

of despair in his quietness, made Helena cling to him wildly, with a

savage little cry as if she were wounded. She clung to him, almost

beside herself. She could not lose him, she could not spare him. She

would not let him go. Helena was, for the moment, frantic.

He held her safely, saying nothing until she was calmer, when, with his

lips on her cheek, he murmured: 'I should be able, shouldn't I, Helena?' 'You are always able!' she cried. 'It is I who play with you at hiding.' 'I have really had you so little,' he said.

'Can't you forget it, Siegmund?' she cried. 'Can't you forget it? It was

only a shadow, Siegmund. It was a lie, it was nothing real. Can't you

forget it, dear?' 'You can't do without me?' he asked.

'If I lose you I am lost,' answered she with swift decision. She had no

knowledge of weeping, yet her tears were wet on his face. He held her

safely; her arms were hidden under his coat.

'I will have no mercy on those shadows the next time they come between

us,' said Helena to herself. 'They may go back to hell.' She still clung to him, craving so to have him that he could not be reft

away.