than the distance between star and star. She
had the sense of spiritual remoteness, of shining isolation, which
ecstasy brings to the heart of youth, as though she had escaped from
the control of ordinary phenomena and stood in a blissful pause beyond
time and space. It was the supreme moment of love; and to her, whose
soul acknowledged no other supremacy than that of love, it was, also,
the supreme moment of life.

His face, as he gazed down at her under the swinging leaves, seemed to
her as different from all other faces as the exquisite violence in her
soul was different from all other emotions she had ever known. She knew
nothing more of him than that she could not be happy away from him. She
needed no more infallible proof of his perfection than the look in his
eyes when he smiled at her. So convincing was the argument of his smile
that it was not only impregnable against any assault of facts, but
rendered futile even the underlying principle of reason. Had Aristotle
himself risen from his grave to prove to her that blind craving when
multiplied by blind possession does not equal happiness, his logic would
have been powerless before that unconquerable instinct which denied its
truth. And around them little white moths, fragile as rose-leaves,
circled deliriously in the lantern-light, for they, also, obeyed an
unconquerable instinct which told them that happiness dwelt in the flame
above which they were whirling.

"I am glad you wore blue ribbons" he said suddenly.

Her lashes trembled and fell, but they could not hide the glow that
shone in her eyes and in the faint smile which trembled, like an edge of
light, on her lips.

"Will you come into the summer-house and sit out this dance?" he asked
when she did not speak, and she followed him under the hanging clusters
of early roses to a bench in the dusk beside a little rustic table.
Here, after a moment's silence, he spoke again recklessly, yet with a
certain constraint of manner.

"I suppose I oughtn't to have come here to-night."

"Why not?" Their glances, bright as swords, crossed suddenly, and it
seemed to her that the music grew louder. Had it been of any use, she
would have prayed Life to dole the minutes out, one by one, like a
miser. And all the time she was thinking: "This is the moment I've
waited for ever since I was born. It has come. I am in the midst of it.
How can I keep it forever?"

"Well, I haven't any business thinking about anything but m