---"

"We came back to New York for that."

"Yes.... And then I shall go away."

Cairns lingered. "But Beth, Bedient will always love you. He will come
back----"

"It is not the same. You will see when he writes. I made him
suffer--until a great light came--and he is the world's--not mine."

"Beth," he said humbly, "you are Absolute!"

"I shall come back--strong enough to meet him--as one of the world's
women--or I shall stay away," she said.

THIRTY-NINTH CHAPTER

ANOTHER SMILAX AFFAIR

The _Hatteras_ was warping into a New York slip the day before
Christmas. Bedient was aboard. There was to be a little party for him,
given by Cairns and Vina at the _Smilax Club_ that night. The Cairns'
had come over from Nantucket for the winter, and were living at the
Club. This was Bedient's third trip to New York in the half-year
preceding. He had not seen Beth, but there had been letters between
them--of late, important letters, big with reality and understanding.
She had been in Europe since July, but had promised to be home for the
holidays. Vina's last letter told him that Beth would be at their
affair of greeting to-night.

Adith Mallory saw Jim Framtree in New York, after her hours with Beth
Truba. It was the day before he sailed for Equatoria. Framtree asked
her not to tell Mr. Bedient that the name of Framtree was spoken in her
conversation with Beth. This request gave her a clearer understanding.

Bedient may have guessed that the mystery of the return of Jim Framtree
was penetrated by Beth, but he did not ask Miss Mallory, nor mention
Framtree in his letters to the lustrous lady. He doubtless wondered at
the hasty return of his young friend, but it was a privilege of Beth to
return his gifts--one of the glowing mysteries of Beth.

Just now, Bedient caught the waving hand of David Cairns in the small
crowd below. Fifteen minutes later they were in a cab together.... Beth
had returned to New York. This was the answer to Bedient's first
question.

"Are you going to stay with us this time, Andrew?" Cairns asked, raptly
studying his friend.

"Yes. Several weeks at least."

"At the Club?"

"No. I shall go back to Broderick Street to-morrow."

This was a broken arrow of black sorrows near the East River, straight
East from Gramercy. Bedient had found it in the summer, where it had
lain rotting in its wound.

"So the New York office of the Carreras plantations is to be in
Broderick Street," Cairns s