she was aware of their
approach.

She wore a white dress, the skirt of which was scattered with the petals
of crimson roses, which her restless hands had pulled asunder. Her head
was tilted back on the cushion, showing the beautiful line of the
throat; her face was ivory white, and the curved bow of her lips showed
vividly, startlingly red. Even that first glance brought an impression
of strain and unrest; and as her ear at last caught the sound of the
approaching footsteps, she leaped upward with a gesture of alarm. Her
eyes fell upon Lilith's figure and distended in wild distress, but the
next moment she beheld Rupert, and in a flash the fear disappeared and
was replaced by the most melting tenderness. She came forward with the
shy grace of a child, slipped her hand into his, and stood passively
waiting for what it should please him to do next. Anyone who doubted if
Rupert Dempster's love had stood the strain of those two long years of
waiting would have found his answer in one glimpse at the man's face as
he stood holding that little hand in his.

"Eve! this is an old friend. I met her walking by the river, and asked
her to come and see you. Her name is Lilith Wastneys. You remember it,
don't you? I have spoken to you about her."

"Yes, I remember," Eve said. She took her hand from her husband's, and
held it out towards Lilith with a graceful gesture of greeting. Her
eyes dwelt on the small, composed face with an expression of incredulous
surprise. "You wished for Power! That seemed strange to me when I
heard it, and now that I have seen you it seems stranger still. You
look so small and gentle. I wonder what made you wish for Power!"

Lilith's smile was as inscrutable as her eyes. She answered simply by
making another statement:

"And Rupert wished for love."

"He has got it!" said Eve deeply. She gave one glance at her husband--a
wonderful, liquid glance, then turned back to her guest. "Won't you sit
down? I sit in the veranda to be out of the sun. I am so tired of the
sun. In the East it is cruel, blazing down day after day, mocking at
the shadows. But the shadows are there--it cannot chase them away."
She leaned back on her cushions. "Here all is so cool and calm, and the
rain falls. That feels like nature weeping with us. I like to watch
the rain. Have _you_ a pretty garden to sit in?"

"I am staying at the Inn. I don't want a garden. I can have that at
home. When I want to r