her hands together.

"Oh, but it was folly--worse than folly! He will only think or
hateful,--theatrical. He will never understand."

Yet if, by miraculous chance, he did understand . . . what then? She
held her breath and waited; till the night seemed alive with voices
that laughed her to scorn.

The new-risen moon hung low as if caught and tangled among the
tree-tops of the forest that broke up her golden disc in fantastic
fashion. Away there by the bonfire some one else was singing now; a
song with a boisterous chorus. Her mad impulse had simply been added
to the mass of ineffectual things that form the groundwork of our rare
successes.

Suddenly she started, and raised her head. The sound she desired yet
dreaded was close at hand. He was coming to her. He must have
understood. And because she needed all her courage to face him, she
did it at once; for nothing saps courage like hesitation.

Then her heart stood still; a chill aura swept through her and she
shivered. The dark figure nearing her was not Lenox. It was Garth.

But that all power of initiative seemed gone from her, she must have
turned and fled. Instead she stood her ground, without motion or
speech; and he, still misreading her, held out his arms.

"Quita . . . darling . . ." he began, his voice thick with passion.

But her name on his lips roused her like a pistol-shot.

"Go back . . . please go back," she cried imperatively. "I came away
because I wanted . . . to be alone."

"But I thought . . ."

"I can't help what you thought! If you have any--respect for me at
all, you will do what I ask."

"Of course. Only I shall see you again to-night. I must."

"No . . . no. Not to-night."

"To-morrow then?"

But she had already left him; and for his part, he must needs return
the way he came,--frustrated, yet not enlightened; cursing, in no
measured terms, the unfathomable ways of women. No doubt she was
upset, unstrung by the knowledge of all that her confession implied;
and woman-like, showed small regard for his consuming impatience to
possess her. But to-morrow he would ride home with her. And after
that--the Deluge!

Quita left alone again went forward with lagging feet, and a heart
emptied of hope. Her own disappointment crowded out all thought of
Garth's unusual behaviour; till renewed steps behind her suggested the
astonishing possibility that he had dared to disregard her request, and
followed her, in spite of