devoted to the key, with bended head. "But--but
you might have changed your mind," she continued, "and I might not have
known it, for, you see, I did not know your former state of mind; you have
never told me." Her tongue had led her further than she had intended to
go, and she blushed painfully, and I think, considering her words,
appropriately.

"My letter told you my state of mind. At least it told you of my intention
to come. I--I fear that I do not understand you," said John.

"I mean," she replied, with a saucy, fluttering little laugh as she looked
up from her conflict with the entangled key, "I mean that--that you don't
know what I mean. But here is the key at last, and--and--you may, if you
wish, come to this side of the gate."

She stepped forward to unlock the gate with an air that seemed to say,
"Now, John, you shall have a clear field."

But to her surprise she found that the lock had been removed. That
discovery brought back to John his wandering wits.

"Mistress Dorothy," he cried in tones of alarm, "I must not remain here.
We are suspected and are sure to be discovered. Your father has set a trap
for us. I care not for myself, but I would not bring upon you the trouble
and distress which would surely follow discovery. Let us quickly choose
another place and time of meeting. I pray you, sweet lady, meet me
to-morrow at this time near the white cliff back of Lathkil mill. I have
that to say to you which is the very blood of my heart. I must now leave
you at once."

He took her hand, and kissing it, started to leave through the open gate.

The girl caught his arm to detain him. "Say it now, John, say it now. I
have dreamed of it by night and by day. You know all, and I know all, and
I long to hear from your lips the words that will break down all barriers
between us." She had been carried away by the mad onrush of her passion.
She was the iron, the seed, the cloud, and the rain, and she spoke because
she could not help it.

"I will speak, Dorothy, God help me! God help me, I will speak!" said
John, as he caught the girl to his breast in a fierce embrace. "I love
you, I love you! God Himself only knows how deeply, how passionately! I do
not know. I cannot fathom its depths. With all my heart and soul, with
every drop of blood that pulses through my veins, I love you--I adore you.
Give me your lips, my beauty, my Aphrodite, my queen!"

"There--they--are, John,--there they are. They are--all yours--a