it a stab of anguish. Had she convinced him against
his will? Was he about to take her at her word?

But instead of turning away he drew her to her feet, holding her by both
hands so that they stood face to face.

"Vanna, you remember what I said to you about Miggles? The lesson of
her death? You believe--I believe that this world is not all; that it
is only a beginning--the portal of life. Can't we lift our love above
the ordinary human conception? Can't we be content to wait--to suffer
if it must be, in the hope of all that is to come? I don't pretend that
it will be easy; but we have no choice. The love has come; we can't
alter it; we don't want to alter it. We belong to each other for life
and eternity; we must help each other to live on the heights. We must
not allow ourselves to regret and to pine for what we cannot have; we
must be thankful, and look forward. You are so good, so strong; you
must help me! We must go on with our lives; but if this love is worth
anything, it will be a strength to us--not a bar. It would be folly to
part. Should we think of each other any the less because we were at
opposite ends of the world? Vanna! surely you of all women should be
the last to deny the possibility of a spiritual love."

But Vanna did not answer. Her head fell forward until her face was
hidden from sight; her hands burned within his. She was a woman, and
for the moment there was no place in her heart for Piers's lofty
self-abnegation. A spiritual love--self-sacrifice and suffering in the
hope of future bliss! And she was to be strong and brave, and help him
when he failed; she, who was filled with a passion of longing for the
dear, human, everyday joys; to whom for the moment they towered above
the far-off, spiritual gain. The woman's birthright of intuition
revealed the future with flashlight clarity. Her heart was torn with a
presage of the pangs which would rend it afresh, as she beheld happy
wives, rich in home, husband, and children, while she wandered outcast,
unsatisfied, athirst. The man, with shorter vision, could content
himself in the present, and in the fulness of love's revelations delude
himself that joy would remain; but to the woman, for whom the love of
him was an aching longing of body and soul, the sharpest pang of all
came from the certainty of his mistake. She looked forward and beheld
him restless and rebellious, chafing against his chains--the old,
irritable disconten