The Secret Power | Page 6

quite believe that it is
the natural instinct of the female to select her mate,-- but, though the
rule may hold good in the forest world, it doesn't always work among
the human herd. Man considers that he has the right of selection--quite
a mistake of his I'm sure, for he has no real sense of beauty or fitness,
and generally selects most vilely. All the same he is an obstinate brute,
and sticks to his brutish ideas as a snail sticks to its shell. I am an
obstinate brute!--I am absolutely convinced that I have the right to
choose my own woman, if I want one--which I don't,--or if ever I do
want one-- which I never shall!"
She drew her hands quickly from his grasp. There were tears in her
splendid dark eyes.
"You talk, you talk!" she said, with a kind of sob in her voice--"It is all

talk with you--talk which I cannot understand! I don't WANT to
understand!--I am only a poor, ignorant girl. I cannot talk--but I can
love! Ah yes, I can love! You say there is no such thing as love! What
is it then, when one prays every night and morning for a man?--when
one would work one's fingers to the bone for him?--when one would
die to keep him from sickness and harm? What do you call it?"
He smiled.
"Self-delusion, Manella! The beautiful self-delusion of every
nature-bred woman when her fancy is attracted by a particular sort of
man. She makes an ideal of him in her mind and imagines him to be a
god, when he is nothing but a devil!"
Something sinister and cruel in his look startled her,--she made the sign
of the cross on her bosom.
"A devil?" she murmured--"a devil--?"
"Ah, now you are frightened!" he said, with a flash of amusement in his
eyes--"You are a good Catholic, and you believe in devils. So you
make the sign of the cross as a protection. That's right! That's the way
to defend yourself from my evil influence! Wise Manella!"
The light mockery of his tone roused her pride,--that pride which had
been suppressed in her by the force of a passionate emotion she could
not restrain. She lifted her head and regarded him with an air of sorrow
and scorn.
"After all, I think you must be a wicked man!" she said--"You have no
heart! You are not worthy to be loved!"
"Quite true, Manella! You've hit the bull's eye in the very middle three
times! I am a wicked man,--I have no heart,--I'm not worthy to be loved.
No I'm not. I should find it a bore!"
"Bore?" she echoed--"What is that?"

"What is that? It is itself, Manella! 'Bore' is just 'bore.' It means
tiredness--worn-out-ness--a state in which you wish yourself in a hot
bath or a cold one, so that nobody can come near you. To be 'loved'
would finish me off in a month!"
Her big eyes opened more widely than their wont in piteous perplexity.
"But how?" she asked.
"How? Why, just as you have put it,--to be prayed for night and
morning,--to be worked for and waited on till fingers turned to
bones,--to be guarded from sickness and harm,--heavens!--think of it!
No more adventures in life,--no more freedom!--just love, love, love,
which would not be love at all but the chains of a miserable wretch in
prison!"
She flushed an angry crimson.
"Who is it that would chain you?" she demanded, "Not I! You could do
as you liked with me--you know it!--and when you go away from this
place, you could leave me and forget me,--I should never trouble you or
remind you that I lived!! I should have had my happiness,--enough for
my day!"
The pathos in her voice moved him though he was not easily moved.
On a sudden impulse he put an arm about her, drew her to him and
kissed her. She trembled at his caress, while he smiled at her emotion.
"A kiss is nothing, Manella!" he said--"We kiss children as I kiss you!
You are a child,--a child-woman. Physically you are a Juno,-- mentally
you are an infant! By and by you will grow up,--and you will be glad I
did no more than kiss you! It's getting late,--you must go home."
He released her and put her gently away from him. Then, as he saw her
eyes still uplifted questioningly to his face, he laughed.
"Upon my word!" he exclaimed--"I am making a nice fool of myself!
Actually wasting time on a woman. Go home, Manella, go home! If

you are wise you won't stop here another minute! See now! You are
full of curiosity--all women are! You want to know why I stay up here
in this hill cabin by myself instead