en up the
Churchill. It was not my purpose to join you, and so Eileen professed
to be taken ill. We camped, back from the river, and I sent our two
Indians back to Churchill, for Eileen and I wished to be alone with
Brokaw in the terrible hour that was coming. That is all. Everything is
revealed. I have come to you as quickly as I could, to find that Thorpe
is dead. In my own selfishness I would have shielded Brokaw, arguing
that he could pay Thorpe, and work honorably henceforth. You would
never have known. It is Eileen who makes this confession, not I. Phil,
her last words to me were these: 'You love me. Then you will tell him
all this. Only after this, if he shows us a mercy which we do not
deserve, can I be your wife.'

"There is only one other thing to add. I have shown Brokaw a ray of
hope. He will hand over to you all his rights in the company and the
six hundred thousand in the treasury. He will sign over to you, as
repurchase money for whatever stock you wish to call in, practically
his whole fortune--five hundred thousand. He will disappear, completely
and forever. Eileen and I will hunt out our own little corner in a new
world, and you will never hear of us again. This is what we have
planned to do, if you show us mercy."

Philip had not spoken during Gregson's terrible recital. He sat like
one turned to stone. Rage, wonder, and horror burned so fiercely in his
heart that they consumed all evidence of emotion. And to arouse him now
there came an interruption that sent the blood flushing back into his
face--a low knock at the closed door, a slow lifting of the latch, the
appearance of Jeanne. Through her tears she saw only the man she loved,
and sobbing aloud now, like a child, she stretched out her arms to him;
and when he sprang to her and caught her to his breast, she whispered
his name again and again, and stroked his face with her hands. Love,
overpowering, breathing of heaven, was in her touch, and as she lifted
her face to him of her own sweet will now, entreating him to kiss her
and to comfort her for what she had lost, he saw Gregson moving with
bowed head, like a stricken thing, toward the outer door. In that
moment the things that had been in his heart melted away, and raising a
hand above his head, he called, softly:

"Tom Gregson, my old chum, if you have found a love like this, thank
your God. My own love I would lose if I destroyed yours. Go back to
Eileen. Tell Brokaw that I accept his offer