But I shall not shirk it on that account." He leant back against the mantelpiece with a gesture that plainly said that so far as he was concerned the matter was ended.
But it was not so with Doris.

She stood before him for several seconds absolutely motionless, all the vivid colour gone from her face, her blue eyes blazing with speechless fury.

At length, with a sudden, fierce movement, she tore the ring he had given her from her finger and held it out to him.
"Take it!" she said, her voice high-pitched and tremulous.

"This is the end!" He did not stir a muscle.
"Not yet, I think," he said.
She flashed a single glance at him in which pride and uncertainty were strangely mingled, then made a sudden swoop towards the fire.

He read her intention in a second, and stooping swiftly caught her hand.