It was the pretence I wanted to be rid of; I wanted to be rid of it when you said you loved me and didn't, and I want to be rid of it now when YOU pretend not to love me and I KNOW you do," and Blix leaned back her head as she spoke that "know," looking at him from under her lids, a smile upon her lips.

"It's the pretence that I won't have," she added.

"We must be sincere with each other, you and I." "Blix, do YOU love ME ?" Condy had risen to his feet, his breath was coming quick, his cigarette was flung away, and his hands opened and shut swiftly.
"Oh, Blixy, little girl, do YOU love ME ?" They stood there for a moment in the half dark, facing one another, their hearts beating, their breath failing them in the tension of the instant.

There in that room, high above the city, a little climax had come swiftly to a head, a crisis in two lives had suddenly developed.
The moment that had been in preparation for the last few months, the last few years, the last few centuries, behold! it had arrived.
"Blix, do you love me ?" Suddenly it was the New Year.

Somewhere close at hand a chorus of chiming church bells sang together.