all burdens--a sad
heart's solitude."

He put his arm around her, impulsively:

"You little angel," he said, tenderly.

"No--only a human girl who has learned what solitude can mean."

"I shall make you forget the past," he said.

"No, dear--for that might make me less kind." She put her lips against
his cheek, thoughtfully: "And--I think--that you are going to need all
the tenderness in me--some day, Louis--as I need all of yours.... We
shall have much to learn--after the great change.... And much to endure.
And I think we will need all the kindness that we can give each
other--and all that the world can spare us."

CHAPTER X

It was slowly becoming evident to Neville that Valerie's was the
stronger character--not through any genius for tenacity nor on account
of any domineering instinct--but because, mistaken or otherwise in her
ethical reasoning, she was consistent, true to her belief, and had the
courage to live up to it. And this made her convictions almost
unassailable.

Slavery to established custom of any kind she smilingly disdained,
refusing to submit to restrictions which centuries of social usage had
established, when such social restrictions and limitations hampered or
annoyed her.

Made conscious by the very conventions designed to safeguard
unconsciousness; made wise by the unwisdom of a civilisation which
required ignorance of innocence, she had as yet lost none of her
sweetness and confidence in herself and in a world which she considered
a friendly one at best and, at worst, more silly than vicious.

Her life, the experience of a lonely girlhood in the world, wide and
varied reading, unwise and otherwise, and an intelligence which needed
only experience and training, had hastened to a premature maturity her
impatience with the faults of civilisation. And in the honest revolt of
youth, she forgot that what she rejected was, after all, civilisation
itself, and that as yet there had been offered no acceptable substitute
for its faulty codification.

To do one's best was to be fearlessly true to one's convictions and let
God judge; that was her only creed. And from her point of view humanity
needed no other.

So she went about the pleasure and happiness of living with a light
heart and a healthy interest, not doubting that all was right between
her and the world, and that the status quo must endure.

And endless misunderstandings ensued between her and the man she loved.
She was