is
destiny.

Again with his rapid, clear-thinking mind he had not only promptly
admitted this truth to himself, but he reveled in the enchantment of
the thought it inspired. He desired it. He regretted only that
fortune had so long denied him the contemplation of such delights. He
felt he had never before lived. He had merely existed, something more
than a physical and mental machine, something less than a man.

Something of all this stimulated his sensations during that ostensible
farewell call upon the woman who had inspired the change. And, as his
hungry eyes dwelt upon her great beauty, he became a prey to an impulse
that was irresistible. Why should this be a farewell? Why should
there ever be a farewell between them? There could be none. Then, to
his support came that steady determination which never failed him in
crises. There should be no farewell.

He was clad in sober conventional garb. There was only the bronzing
upon his fair brow and firm cheeks to suggest the open air life that
was his. His slim, powerful figure was full of an ease which caught
and held, and pleased Elvine van Blooren's fancy, and awoke in her more
material mind something of the dreams which had driven her almost
unthinkingly into the arms of her first husband. His fine blue eyes
were alight with possibilities which came near to overbalancing the
calculations of her mature mind. But, even so, she felt that the
ground was so safe under her feet that, even with the background of the
past ever in her memory, she could safely indulge her warmth of fancy
to its full.

They were alone in the little modern parlor. At another time Jeff must
have observed its atmosphere without enthusiasm, just now he welcomed
it. It represented the intimate background of a beautiful woman's
life. This was the shrine of the goddess whom he had set up for his
own worship. Again there was no half measure.

They were talking in that intimate fashion which belongs to the period
when a man and a woman have made up their minds that there remains no
obstacle to the admission of mutual regard.

"It's just wonderful to have done it all in so short a time," Elvine
said in her low even tones.

Jeff had been talking of the Obar Ranch which was more precious to him
than a schoolboy's first big achievement in the playing fields. He had
been talking of it, not in the spirit of vain glory, but out of the
deep affection of a strong heart for the child of