hey made their way aft. John drew a couple of chairs near
to the rail. "I don't care to sit down for the present," she said, and
they stood looking out at sea for a while in silence.

"Do you remember," said John at last, "a night six years ago when we
stood together, at the end of the voyage, leaning over the rail like
this?"

"Yes," she said.

"Does this remind you of it?" he asked.

"I was thinking of it," she said.

"Do you remember the last night I was at your house?" he asked, looking
straight out over the moonlit water.

"Yes," she said again.

"Did you know that night what was in my heart to say to you?"

There was no answer.

"May I tell you now?" he asked, giving a side glance at her profile,
which in the moonlight showed very white.

"Do you think you ought?" she answered in a low voice, "or that I ought
to listen to you?"

"I know," he exclaimed. "You think that as a married woman you should
not listen, and that knowing you to be one I should not speak. If it
were to ask anything of you I would not. It is for the first and last
time. To-morrow we part again, and for all time, I suppose. I have
carried the words that were on my lips that night all these years in my
heart. I know I can have no response--I expect none; but it can not harm
you if I tell you that I loved you then, and have----"

She put up her hand in protest.

"You must not go on, Mr. Lenox," she said, turning to him, "and I must
leave you."

"Are you very angry with me?" he asked humbly.

She turned her face to the sea again and gave a sad little laugh.

"Not so much as I ought to be," she answered; "but you yourself have
given the reason why you should not say such things, and why I should
not listen, and why I ought to say good-night."

"Ah, yes," he said bitterly; "of course you are right, and this is to be
the end."

She turned and looked at him for a moment. "You will never again speak
to me as you have to-night, will you?" she asked.

"I should not have said what I did had I not thought I should never see
you again after to-morrow," said John, "and I am not likely to do that,
am I?"

"If I could be sure," she said hesitatingly, and as if to herself.

"Well," said John eagerly. She stood with her eyes downcast for a
moment, one hand resting on the rail, and then she looked up.

"We expect to stay in Algiers about two months," she said, "and then we
are going to Naples to visit some friends for a few days, about