at's before the test, you see."

"I have not found existence on this island altogether unendurable," she
went on. "I am not in love, I'm cure, yet I am surprised to find myself
contented here with you. Then why should not lovers find this a real
paradise, as you say?"

"Would you be contented here with any other man as your companion?" he
asked, his head suddenly swimming.

"Oh, no!" she cried decisively. "I don't believe I'd like it here with
anybody but you. Now, don't look like that! I'm not such a fool as you
may be thinking, Hugh. I know the world pretty well. I know how other
people love, even though it has never been part of my lot. I'm not quite
a hypocrite. I was not presented at court for nothing. You see, you are
so good and we are such friends. It never occurred to me before, but I'm
sure I couldn't endure being here with any other man I know. Isn't it
queer I never thought of that?" she asked, in real wonder.

He looked at her steadily before answering. The flare of the torch
revealed a childlike sincerity in her face, and he knew she did not
realize the construction he might have been justified in according her
impulsive confession. His heart throbbed silently. A wave of tenderness
welled within him, bringing with it a longing to kiss the hem of her
raiment, to touch her soft, black hair, to whisper gently in her ear, to
clasp her hand, to do something fondly grateful.

"Are you quite sure of that?" he asked softly. She looked up into his
eyes honestly, frankly, unwaveringly, pressing his arm with a smile of
enthusiasm.

"Quite sure. Why not? Who could be better, more thoughtful, braver than
you, and for the sake of a woman who, by mistake, owes her life to you?
When you have done so much for me, why should I not say that you are the
man I like best of all I know? It is strange, perhaps, that it should
make any particular difference, but it seems to me no other man could
inspire the feeling of resignation and contentment that you do. Really,
it isn't so hard to live in the wilderness, is it?"

"Have you never known any one else with whom you could have been
contented here?" he asked persistently.

"Oh, I don't know what other men would be like if they were in your
place," she said. She appeared deeply thoughtful for some time, as if
trying to imagine others of her acquaintance in Hugh's place. "I am sure
I cannot imagine any one being just like you," she went on,
conclusively.

"No one you may h