But Terry
would not listen to reason.
He was madly in love with Alima. He wanted to take her by
storm, and nearly lost her forever.
You see, if a man loves a girl who is in the first place young
and inexperienced; who in the second place is educated with a
background of caveman tradition, a middle-ground of poetry and
romance, and a foreground of unspoken hope and interest all
centering upon the one Event; and who has, furthermore,
absolutely no other hope or interest worthy of the name--
why, it is a comparatively easy matter to sweep her off her feet
with a dashing attack. Terry was a past master in this process.
He tried it here, and Alima was so affronted, so repelled,
that it was weeks before he got near enough to try again.
The more coldly she denied him, the hotter his determination;
he was not used to real refusal. The approach of flattery she
dismissed with laughter, gifts and such "attentions" we could
not bring to bear, pathos and complaint of cruelty stirred only a
reasoning inquiry.
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