peak to-night...?

They had reached a dark doorway, and he was trying the handle. It opened
inwards.

"I'm keen to go a little way up the hillside," he said, forcing himself
to break a silence that was growing oppressive. "To get a sight of the
Palace with the moon full on it. We'll be cautious--not go too far."

"I am ready to go anywhere," she answered; and the fervour of that
simple statement told him she was not thinking of hillsides any more
than he was--at the back of his mind.

Silence was unkinder than speech; and as they passed out into the open,
he scanned the near prospect for a convenient spot. Not far above them a
fragment of ruined wall, overhung by trees, ended in a broken arch; its
lingering keystone threatened by a bird-borne acacia. A fallen slab of
stone, half under it, offered a not too distant seat. Slab and arch were
in full light; the space beyond, engulfed in shadow.

Far up the hillside a jackal laughed. Across the valley another answered
it. A monkey swung from a branch on to the slab, and sat there engaged
in his toilet--a very imp of darkness.

"Not be-creeped--are you?" Roy asked.

"Just the littlest bit! Nice kind of creeps. I feel quite safe--with
you."

The path was rough in parts. Once she stumbled and his hand closed
lightly on her arm under the cloak. She felt safe with him--and he must
turn and smite her----!

At their approach, the monkey fled with a gibbering squeak: and Roy
loosened his hold. Between them and the lake loomed the noble bulk of
the palace; roof-terraces and facades bathed in silver, splashed with
indigo shadow; but for them--mere man and woman--its imperishable
strength and beauty had suddenly become a very little thing. They
scarcely noticed it even.

"There--sit," Roy said softly, and she obeyed.

Her smile mutely invited him; but he could not trust himself--yet. He
might have known the moonlight would go to his head.

"Aruna--my dear----" he plunged without preamble. "I took you away from
them all because--well--we can't pretend any more ... you and I. It's
fate--and there we are. I love you--dearly--truly. But...."

How could one go on?

"Oh, _Roy_!"

Her lifted gaze, her low impassioned cry told all; and before that too
clear revealing his hard-won resolution quailed.

"No--not that. I don't deserve it," he broke out, lashing himself and
startling her. "I've been a rank coward--letting things drift. But
honestly I hadn't the conceit--we were