us forces operating outside the realm of
natural forces: love alone is supreme, subject to no known laws. I mean
to prove it to you; I mean to show you how little responsible you have
been in any way for the misfortunes that have overtaken men who loved
you; I shall show you that I am far more blameworthy than you.... And
when I have done that, you will come to me."

"I am afraid," she whispered breathlessly--"I am afraid I shall."

He rose. "Till then, my dearest girl, don't, please don't ever shrink
from me again. I may not be able to dissemble my love, but until your
fears are done away with, your mind at rest, no act of mine, within my
control, shall ever cause you even so much as an instant's annoyance or
distress."

His tone changed. "I'll go now and build my fires. When you are
ready--?"

"I shan't be long," she said.

But for long after he had left her, she lingered moveless by a window,
her gaze following him as he moved to and fro: her face now wistful, now
torn by distress, now bright with longing. Strong passions contended
within her--love and fear, joy and regret; at times crushing
apprehensions of evil darkened her musings, until she could have cried
out with the torment of her fears; and again intimations possessed her
of exquisite beauty, warming and ennobling her heart, all but persuading
her.

At length, sighing, she lighted the lamp and went about her tasks, with
a bended head, wondering and frightened, fearfully questioning her own
inscrutable heart. Was it for this only that she had fought herself all
through that day: that she should attain an outward semblance of calm so
complete as to deceive even herself, so frail as to be rent away and
banished completely by the mere tones of his mastering voice? Was she to
know no rest? Was it to be her fate to live out her days in yearning,
eating her heart alone, feeding with sighs the passing winds? Or was she
too weary to hold by her vows? Was she to yield and, winning happiness,
in that same instant encompass its destruction?...

When it was quite dark, Whitaker brought a lantern to the door and
called her, and they went forth together.

As he had promised, he had built up three towering pyres, widely apart.
When all three were in full roaring flame, their illumination was hot
and glowing over all the upland. It seemed impossible that the world
should not now become cognizant of their distress.

At some distance to the north of the greatest fir