The Combined Maze

h had been her first effect had given way to a peculiar excitement and activity of mind. When he said to himself that Miss Usher had behaved queerly, he meant that she had acted with a fine defiance

he had used some charm that made it impossible for him to resent it. What could well be queerer than that he should be told by a girl he did not know that his case was hopeless, that he must

t women underst

nary? She had only put into words-sensible words-his

taken out of his hands and decided for him; calmness, and yet a pain, a distinct pain that he was not subtle enough to recognize as remorse for a disloya

sense in him. He did not refer it definitely to Violet Usher. It

o by the absurd persistence with which in thought he returned again and again to Winny Dymond. That recurrent tenderness for Winny, a girl who had no sort of tenderness for him, was a thing he did

had been some great civic function, it was attended by the Mayor of Marylebone in his robes. To be sure, the Mayor,

t perfectly aware of anything but the face and eyes of Violet Usher fixed on him from the side gallery above. The gallery was crowded with other fac

hem, bending her dark brows toward him, immovable and intent. He did not know whether she was alone there. To all appeara

ond the mere easy swing and temperate rhythm. Instead of the old good-natured rivalry, it was as if he struggled and did battle in some supreme and terrible fight. Each movement that he made fired his blood; from

w itself about. So utterly had he gone beyond himself. And he knew that his demonstration had not been quite so triumphal, so glorious as he had th

e gallery. It was with a crushed and nervous air, as of some great artist, conscious of his aim and of h

ey shook hands awkwardly. And with the stirring of her b

to see you here,"

me; else I shou

sponsible for her appearance. He gather

all right," he said. Then t

hyr," from his shoulders and from his chest where the lines and bosses of the muscles showed under the light gauze, and from his crimson belt, down the firm long slopes to his knees; and it was as if her eyes brushed him, palpably, with soft feather strokes. They rested on his face; a

a terrible consciousness of himself and

in apology, "you've see

men," she said. "Besides

eren't here

Not h

re on earth can y

he brim of her wide hat. "I saw you at Wandsworth-at t

nny, expressing his

ure you ran

I ran al

you j

an jump,"

n t

. You should s

m. You won th

in that other way she

me next year. You be

knew not whence, compell

nd right and left ranged themselves in two long lines under the galleries. Now they were marking time with the stiff rise and fall of black stockings under the short tunics.

ed to him. "Is

Right opposite. Jolly s

s bent lower, and a large blue eye slued round

And she turned her shoulder on him and sat thus a

a moment, as he watched her, he felt again the old sense of tender

e the sharp word of command, and the Young Ladies f

r still s

, at last, "it'

y, reluctantly a

to Ransome, with an increased abandonment, a wilder rhythm and motion; and when she raised her body like an arch, far-stretching and wide-planted, it seemed to him that it rose higher and

ide to side again and over, and lighted on her feet in

"'Jove! That's good!"

eager and delighted. "Wel

not answer him. And he gathered from her silence that she

e got. There's not one of those girls tha

it would be like that. I'm not used to it. I'v

u should join us, Miss

ome, I'd rather not.

t it was not a thing that could be done by a nice woman, by a woman who respected herself and her own womanhood and her own beauty; not a thing that could be done by Violet Usher. He

er decency, into a

t-but it's all righ

for men. They're

ght for

no. I don't think it is. It

y-how abo

t doesn't seem to mat

ot-for

a queer crea

you mea

e. She'll do anything. And she's plucky. If she's taken a th

pluck," he assen

ou're a woman, not to care what you do, or what you look like doing it. And she's so innocen

ood over it in b

urage them. Boys don't mind, of

hing he had thought and felt about Winny was illusion. It was illusion, that sense she gave him of tenderness and of absurdity. Gymnastics were all very well in their way. But nice women, the women that men cared about, women like Violet Usher, did not make of their bodies a spectacle in Grand Displays. Little Winny, whatever she did, was

Ranny had sud

ave been different if

n, the Combined M

as studying

n and out like, and combined, because men and women ran in it all mixed up together. They made patterns accordin' as they ran, a

n and wome

women t

running

es

inny ru

ogether. You'll s

r thought

from him, and returning to him again. Always with the same soft pad of her feet, the same swaying of he

uld be said of her; and he, he was a ma

locked, shoulder to shoulder, in the Great Wheel; but it was as if he held and caught, and was locked together with a child. Winny's charm was gone; and with it gone the sense of tenderness and absurdity; gone th