time and place, where the force of those words did not
seem to reign. Whatsoever the names under which men have conceived
and worshipped their gods or their God, however much they have
believed that it was these or it was He who overthrew them and made
their destinies inescapable, after all, it is the high compulsion
of the soul itself, the final mystery of personal choice, that
sends us forth at last to our struggles and to our peace: "_mine
own soul forbiddeth me_"--there for each is right and wrong, the
eternal beauty of virtue.

He did not notice the sound of approaching wheels, and that the
sound ceased at his door.

A moment later and Isabel with light footsteps stood before him.
He sprang up with a cry and put his arms around her and held her.

"You shall never go away again."

"No, I am never going away again; I have come back to marry Rowan."

These were her first words to him as they sat face to face. And
she quickly went on:

"How is he?"

He shook his head reproachfully at her: "When I saw him at least he
seemed better than you seem."

"I knew he was not well--I have known it for a long time. But you
saw him--in town--on the street--with his friends--attending to
business?"

"Yes--in town--on the street--with his friends--attending to
business."

"May I stay here? I ordered my luggage to be sent here."

"Your room is ready and has always been ready and waiting since the
day you left. I think Anna has been putting fresh flowers in it
all autumn. You will find some there to-night. She has insisted
of late that you would soon be coming home."

An hour later she came down into the library again. She had
removed the traces of travel, and she had travelled slowly and was
not tired. All this enabled him to see how changed she was; and
without looking older, how strangely oldened and grown how quiet of
spirit. She had now indeed become sister for him to those images
of beauty that were always haunting him--those far, dim images of
the girlhood of her sex, with their faces turned away from the sun
and their eyes looking downward, pensive in shadow, too freighted
with thoughts of their brief fate and their immortality.

"I must have a long talk with you before I try to sleep. I must
empty my heart to you once."

He knew that she needed the relief, and that what she asked of him
during these hours would be silence.

"I have tried everything, and everything has failed. I have tried
abse