m around her.

"Isn't it strange, Clive, that I should think about children--at my
age--and with little chance of ever having any. I don't know what
possesses me to suddenly want them.... Wouldn't they be wonderful in
that house? And they'd have that darling garden to play in.... There
ought to be a boy--several in fact, and some girls.... _I'd_ know what
to do for them. Isn't it odd that I should know exactly how to bring
them up. But I do. I know I do.... I can almost see them playing in
the garden--I can see their dear little faces--hear their voices--"

His arm was clasping her slim body very tightly, but she suddenly sat
upright, resting one slender hand on his shoulder; and her gaze became
steady and fixed.

Presently he noticed it and turned his head in the same direction, but
saw nothing except the sunlight sifting through the trees and the
golden half-light of the woods beyond.

"What is it, Athalie?" he asked.

She said in a curiously still voice: "Children."

"Where?"

"Playing in the woods."

"Where?" he repeated; "I do not see them."

She did not answer. Presently she closed her eyes and rested her face
against his shoulder again, pressing close to him as though lonely.

"They went away," she said in answer to his question.... "I feel a
little tired, Clive.... Do you care for me a great deal?"

"Can you ask?"

"Yes.... Because of the years ahead of us. I think there are to be
many--for us both. The future is so bewildering--like a tangled and
endless forest, and very dim to see in.... But sometimes there comes a
rift in the foliage--and there is a glimpse of far skies shining. And
for a moment one--'sees clearly'--into the depths--a little way....
And surmises something of what remains unseen. And imagines more,
perhaps.... I wonder if you love me--enough."

"Dearest--dearest--"

"Let it remain unsaid, Clive. A girl must learn one day. But never
from the asking. And the same sun shall continue to rise and set,
whatever her answer is to be; and the moon, too; and the stars shall
remain unchanged--whatever changes us. How still the woods are--as
still as dreams."

[Illustration: "She suddenly sat upright, resting one slender hand on
his shoulder."]

She lifted her head, looked at him, smiled, then, freeing herself,
sprang to her feet and stood a moment drawing her slim hand across her
eyes.

"I shall have a tennis court, Clive. And a canoe on Spring Pond....
What kind of puppy was that