he remained tense in his arms, till her rigidity and silence alarmed
him. He began to rub her cold cheek.

"Chris, speak to me!"

She turned her face into his breast, and with relief he heard her begin
to breathe again. But she did not speak. She only lay there dumbly in
crushed stillness.

For a while he waited, but at last, as she made no movement, he spoke
again. "Chris, would you like me to leave you?"

That reached her. She turned her face quickly upwards. "No, Trevor."

The wide, strained look was still in her eyes, but they did not flinch
from his.

"I knew he was dead," she said, speaking very quickly, "when I woke up
just now. I thought--I thought--" She broke off, as if she could not
continue. "And afterwards--directly I saw you by my side--I knew it was
true. Trevor"--the piteous note sounded again in her voice--"why are you
not afraid of death?"

"Because I don't believe in it," he said.

"But yet--but yet--" Her words faltered away into silence.

He laid his hand again upon her head. "My dear, death is purely physical.
You know it in your heart as well as I do. Death is the passing of the
spirit--no more than that."

She uttered a deep sigh. "Oh, Trevor, I wish I wasn't so wicked."

His hand began to caress her hair. "I don't think you know what
wickedness is, dear," he said.

"But I do--I do!" she protested. "I--I am almost terrified sometimes when
I realize it. And I feel as if--as if--Bertie wouldn't have been taken
away--if I hadn't loved him so." Her voice sank, she hid her face a
little lower.

"But you make a mistake," he said gently. "There is no sin in love--so
long as it is love and nothing else. A good many sins masquerade in the
form of love, but love itself--what you and I call love--is sinless. And
it is that--and that alone--that can never die." He paused a moment, and
his hand ceased to stroke her bright hair and became still. "It is bad
enough," he said, his voice sunk very low, "that I could ever
misunderstand you; but, my dear, don't make things harder by
misunderstanding yourself."

She moved at that as though it touched her very nearly, and suddenly she
slipped from his arms, and knelt beside him. "Trevor," she said, with
quivering lips, "don't be too kind to me! I can't bear it."

He looked down at her very sadly. "It would be a new experience for you,
my Chris, if I were," he said.

"No--no." She bent her face quickly, and laid it against his hand. "I've
deceived