one evening at supper. "They are working with torches, and I think they
will probably have some kind of a bridge swung over by midnight. I
managed to signal to them a while ago, and they know that we are safe
now. If--if you want to sit up to-night," his voice sounded strained and
perfunctory, "I think you could possibly get over before morning."

The shadow which had fallen upon her face in the last day or two
deepened a little. "It will be cold out there at night." She caught at
the first excuse which came into her mind. "It will be better to wait
and go down after breakfast."

He acquiesced with a nod, but made no answer in words, and soon after he
left the room, and she, later, peeping cautiously out from the curtain
behind the window, saw him walking back and forth before the cabin.

It was an hour or two later when he opened the door and entered. She did
not hear him. She was standing, her elbow on the mantel-piece and her
cheek on her hand, looking down into the fire. His footsteps roused her
from her reverie and she looked up, in that moment of surprise,
forgetful of self and therefore self-revealing. Thus she stood for one
fleeting second, holding him with her smile, her whole being seeming to
rush out and meet and encompass him and embrace him. Then her eyelashes
drooped long and black on her cheek, and her face was all aflame with
color.

He stood still a second, breathing hard. Then from the shadow he hurled
himself into that zone of glowing firelight where she stood. A white
flame passed over his face and lighted his eyes with that burning,
incandescent glow that only those cold, blue eyes can show. Primeval,
all preliminary bowing and scraping in the minuet of wooing ignored, he
saw his heart's desire and seized it, lifting the Pearl in his arms,
crushing her against his breast, until she, dazed for the moment, lay
captured and captive.

But her second of surprised, involuntary non-resistance served her well.
Harry looked into her eyes and forgot his vigilance; and with a twist
Pearl slipped through his arms and was across the room. She stood
against the wall of the cabin, her head thrown back, a smile on her
white lips, her eyes daring him.

Seagreave took no dares. It was a part of his creed. He was across the
room in a step, his arms outstretched as if to clasp her.

But Pearl held him with her eyes until at least she covered her face
with her hands and wept and leaned toward him, and again Seagr