one about as much for me as one human being seems
permitted to do for another in big contingencies; and, by the way, he
said rather a charming thing to-night."

"He has a gift for that. What was it?"

"He said I won the great talisman that put failure out the question."

She laughed again, softly.

"Oh, how I love that man, and his incurable idealism!"

"You do? You lawless young woman! How many more?"

"Only one more . . I think!"

And freeing her left hand she slipped it round his head, that was on a
level with her shoulder, drew it close against her, and ran her fingers
lightly through his thick hair.

"I'm going to weave a magic over your head to make you sleep, and
reward you for giving up the opium, you poor, poor darling."

And with a sigh Lenox yielded himself to the ecstasy of her touch.

Their talk grew fitful, and fragmentary; intimate lover's talk,
interspersed with luminous pauses, that were but hidden channels of
speech; till Quita felt the walls within walls giving way under her
'magic,' and knew that she had reached the shy, inmost heart of the man
at last. That enchanted hour lifted them beyond the ardours of
passion, to the mastery of spirit; to a passing revelation of the
eternal beauty underlying earth's tragedies and complexities: and both
were conscious of an exalted strength.

The harsh clanging of the police gong, twelve times repeated, brought
them back to the iron facts of life. With a murmur of reluctance they
rose; and Lenox escorted his wife to the door of her room.

"Shall I let down your 'chick' for you?" he asked.

"Please."

He untied the strings that held it up. Then, as the curtain fell
between them and the lamplit room, Quita turned, and with a gesture all
tenderness, laid both arms round his neck.

"I shall never forget to-night, Eldred," she whispered, "even if we
live to be cross prosaic old people together. You may go to the other
end of the world, now, and stay there as long as you like! I am sure
of you; and I feel in every fibre of me that we are going to win
through in the end."

CHAPTER XXV.

"In a hundred ages of the gods I could not tell thee of the glory of
Himachal. As the dew is dried up by the sun, so are the sins of
mankind, by the glory of Himachal."--_From the Hindu_.

That night Eldred Lenox slept long, and dreamlessly; and awoke with new
life throbbing in his veins. The three uneventful days that followed
were among the happ