herself a little and recommenced to browse.

And they loved their life as they had never loved it before.

One evening they went again to the canal and looked at the water, but
they seemed to have lost their emotions before it. They were no longer
afraid. Ferdinand sat on the parapet and Valentia leaned against him. He
bent his head so that his face might touch her hair. She looked at him
and smiled, and she almost lifted her lips. He kissed them.

'Do you love me, Ferdinand?'

He gave the answer without words.

Their faces were touching now, and he was holding her hands. They were
both very happy.

'You know, Ferdinand,' she whispered, 'we are very foolish.'

'I don't care.'

'Monsieur Rollo said that folly was the chief attribute of man.'

'What did he say of love?'

'I forget.'

Then, after a pause, he whispered in her ear,--

'I love you!'

And she held up her lips to him again.

'After all,' she said, 'we're only human beings. We can't help it. I
think--'

She hesitated; what she was going to say had something of the
anti-climax in it.

'I think--it would be very silly if--if we threw ourselves in the horrid
canal.'

'Valentia, do you mean--?'

She smiled charmingly as she answered,--

'What you will, Ferdinand.'

Again he took both her hands, and, bending down, kissed them.... But
this time she lifted him up to her and kissed him on the lips.

VIII

One night after dinner I told this story to my aunt.

'But why on earth didn't they get married?' she asked, when I had
finished.

'Good Heavens!' I cried. 'It never occurred to me.'

'Well, I think they ought,' she said.

'Oh, I have no doubt they did. I expect they got on their bikes and rode
off to the Consulate at Amsterdam there and then. I'm sure it would have
been his first thought.'

'Of course, some girls are very queer,' said my aunt.

FAITH

I

The moon shone fitfully through the clouds on to the weary face of
Brother Jasper kneeling in his cell. His hands were fervently clasped,
uplifted to the crucifix that hung on the bare wall, and he was praying,
praying as he had never prayed before. All through the hours of night,
while the monks were sleeping, Brother Jasper had been supplicating his
God for light; but in his soul remained a darkness deeper than that of
the blackest night. At last he heard the tinkling of the bell that
called the monks to prayers, and with a groan lifted himself up. He
opened his c