They had been close together half-an-hour earlier, and he had sedulously avoided touching hers.

He dared not let such an accident happen now.

And yet--surely she saw the situation! Was the inscrutable seriousness with which she applied herself to his lesson a mockery?
There was such a bottomless depth in her eyes that it was impossible to guess truly.

Let it be that destiny alone had ruled that their hands should be together a second time.
All rumination was cut short by an impulse.

He seized her forefinger between his own finger and thumb, and drew it along the hollow, saying, 'That is the curve I mean.' Somerset's hand was hot and trembling; Paula's, on the contrary, was cool and soft as an infant's.
'Now the arch-mould,' continued he.