r him; and at the last, though it were
only as a traitor to his word and his _fiancee_, he had asked for
love--asked commonly, hungrily, recklessly, because he could not help
it--and then for pardon! And those are things the memory of which lies
deep, deep in the pulsing, throbbing heart.

At this point she hurriedly checked and scourged herself, as she did a
hundred times a day.

No, no, _no_! It was all over, and she and Jacob would still make a fine
thing of their life together. Why not?

And all the time there were burning hot tears in her eyes; and as the
leaves of Saint-Simon passed idly through her fingers, the tears blotted
out the meadows and the flowers, and blurred the figure of a young girl
who was slowly mounting the long slope of road that led from the village
of Brent towards the seat on which Julie was sitting.

* * * * *

Gradually the figure approached. The mist cleared from Julie's eyes.
Suddenly she found herself giving a close and passionate attention to
the girl upon the road.

Her form was slight and small; under her shady hat there was a gleam of
fair hair arranged in smooth, shining masses about her neck and temples.
As she approached Julie she raised her eyes absently, and Julie saw a
face of singular and delicate beauty, marred, however, by the suggestion
of physical fragility, even sickliness, which is carried with it. One
might have thought it a face blanched by a tropical climate, and for the
moment touched into faint color by the keen Alpine air. The eyes,
indeed, were full of life; they were no sooner seen but they defined and
enforced a personality. Eager, intent, a little fretful, they expressed
a nervous energy out of all proportion to their owner's slender
physique. In this, other bodily signs concurred. As she perceived Julie
on the bench, for instance, the girl's slight, habitual frown sharply
deepened; she looked at the stranger with keen observation, both glance
and gesture betraying a quick and restless sensibility.

As for Julie, she half rose as the girl neared her. Her cheeks were
flushed, her lips parted; she had the air of one about to speak. The
girl looked at her in a little surprise and passed on.

She carried a book under her arm, into which were thrust a few
just-opened letters. She had scarcely passed the bench when an envelope
fell out of the book and lay unnoticed on the road.

Julie drew a long breath. She picked up the envel