ss
the yawning gorge that divided us, and slowly she moved away, and passed
into the gloom; and I continued my way. I have said nothing to Muriel,
and shall not. The effect the story has had upon myself warns me not
to."

_From a letter dated eleven days later:_

"She has come. I have known she would since that evening I saw her on
the mountain, and last night she came, and we have sat and looked into
each other's eyes. You will say, of course, that I am mad--that I have
not recovered from my fever--that I have been working too hard--that I
have heard a foolish tale, and that it has filled my overstrung brain
with foolish fancies--I have told myself all that. But the thing came,
nevertheless--a creature of flesh and blood? a creature of air? a
creature of my own imagination? what matter; it was real to me.

"It came last night, as I sat working, alone. Each night I have waited
for it, listened for it--longed for it, I know now. I heard the passing
of its feet upon the bridge, the tapping of its hand upon the door,
three times--tap, tap, tap. I felt my loins grow cold, and a pricking
pain about my head, and I gripped my chair with both hands, and waited,
and again there came the tapping--tap, tap, tap. I rose and slipped the
bolt of the door leading to the other room, and again I waited, and
again there came the tapping--tap, tap, tap. Then I opened the heavy
outer door, and the wind rushed past me, scattering my papers, and the
woman entered in, and I closed the door behind her. She threw her hood
back from her head, and unwound a kerchief from about her neck, and laid
it on the table. Then she crossed and sat before the fire, and I noticed
her bare feet were damp with the night dew.

[Illustration: "THE WOMAN ENTERED."]

"I stood over against her and gazed at her, and she smiled at me--a
strange, wicked smile, but I could have laid my soul at her feet. She
never spoke or moved, and neither did I feel the need of spoken words,
for I understood the meaning of those upon the Mount when they said,
'Let us make here tabernacles: it is good for us to be here.'

"How long a time passed thus I do not know, but suddenly the woman held
her hand up, listening, and there came a faint sound from the other
room. Then swiftly she drew her hood about her face and passed out,
closing the door softly behind her; and I drew back the bolt of the
inner door and waited, and hearing nothing more, sat down, and must hav