r side of the
channel was a low line of shore, broadening into the Lido proper, with
its scattered houses and churches, and soon lost in the mist as it
stretched towards the south.

"Ecco!--il Porto del Lido!" said the older boatman, pointing far away to
a line of deeper color beneath a dark and lowering sky.

Kitty bent over the side of the boat staring towards the dim spot he
showed her--where was the mouth of the sea.

"Kitty!" said Cliffe's voice beside her, hoarse and hurried--"one word,
and I tell these fellows to set their helm for Trieste. This boat will
carry us well--and the wind is with us."

She turned and looked him in the face.

"And then?"

"Then? We'll think it out together, Kitty--together!" He bent his lips
to her hand, bending so as to conceal the action from the sailors. But
she drew her hand away.

"You and I," she said, fiercely--"would tire of each other in a week!"

"Have the courage to try! No!--you should not tire of me in a week! I
would find ways to keep you mine, Kitty--cradled, and comforted, and
happy."

"Happy!" Her slight laugh was the forlornest thing. "Take me out to
sea--and drop me there--with a stone round my neck. That might be worth
doing--perhaps."

He surveyed her unmoved.

"Listen, Kitty! This kind of thing can't go on forever."

"What are you waiting for?" she said, tauntingly. "You ought to have
gone last week."

"I am not going," he said, raising himself by a sudden movement--"till
you come with me!"

Kitty started, her eyes riveted to his.

"And yet go I will! Not even you shall stop me, Kitty. I'll take the
help I've gathered back to those poor devils--if I die for it. But
you'll come with me--you'll come!"

She drew back--trembling under an impression she strove to conceal.

"If you will talk such madness, I can't help it," she said, with
shortened breath.

"Yes--you'll come!" he said, nodding. "What have you to do with Ashe,
Kitty, any longer? You and he are already divided. You have tried life
together and what have you made of it? You're not fit for this mincing,
tripping London life--nor am I? And as for morals--- I'll tell you a
strange thing, Kitty." He bent forward and grasped her hands with a
force which hurt--from which she could not release herself. "I
believe--yes, by God, I believe!--that I am a better man than I was
before I started on this adventure. It's been like drinking at last at
the very source of life--living, not talking abou