At last she desisted and with a little laugh raised the locket
to her lips.
Tarzan did not know precisely what she meant, but he
guessed correctly that it was her way of acknowledging the
gift, and so he rose, and taking the locket in his hand,
stooped gravely like some courtier of old, and pressed his
lips upon it where hers had rested.
It was a stately and gallant little compliment performed
with the grace and dignity of utter unconsciousness of self.
It was the hall-mark of his aristocratic birth, the natural
outcropping of many generations of fine breeding, an hereditary
instinct of graciousness which a lifetime of uncouth and savage
training and environment could not eradicate.
It was growing dark now, and so they ate again of the fruit
which was both food and drink for them; then Tarzan rose,
and leading Jane to the little bower he had erected, motioned
her to go within.
For the first time in hours a feeling of fear swept over her,
and Tarzan felt her draw away as though shrinking from him.
Contact with this girl for half a day had left a very diferent
Tarzan from the one on whom the morning's sun had risen.
Now, in every fiber of his being, heredity spoke louder
than training.
He had not in one swift transition become a polished
gentleman from a savage ape-man, but at last the instincts
of the former predominated, and over all was the desire to
please the woman he loved, and to appear well in her eyes.
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