stood beside him. "I am going now, Eldred," she said, a
touch of listlessness in her tone.

He looked up and nodded. "That's right. You do look rather fagged
this evening."

"Only a headache," she answered, flushing and avoiding his eyes. "I
shall be all right if I sleep well."

"Do you ever sleep badly?" he asked, with the quick sympathy of the
sufferer.

"Oh dear, no." She hesitated. "Are you coming?"

"Yes--later."

Still she stood irresolute. Caresses had become rare between them of
late; and now pride as well as shyness checked her natural impulse. In
turning away, she allowed her left hand to swing outward, ever so
little, merely by way of experiment. "He won't see it," she told
herself. And, as if in mute denial, his own hand met and grasped it,
close and hard.

On the threshold she paused and looked back. He was miles away again,
hopelessly out of reach. A sudden thought seized her, tempted her.
Half a dozen words would suffice to snap the chain that held him; to
bring her into his arms. Yet now it seemed impossible to speak them,
even if she would; and she went out, leaving him in undisturbed
possession of his maps and his mountains.

She lingered long over her undressing; and when it was over could not
bring herself to put out the lamp; but lay, waiting and listening for
his coming. Then, as the night slipped away and the silence became a
burden, a dead weight upon brain and heart, the old haunting dread of
those days in Dalhousie came back upon her, and she shivered. The
Pagan in her leaned too readily to superstitious fancy, and her dread
shaped itself finally in a definite thought. "If he comes to me now, I
know I shall conquer the mountains in the end. But if he doesn't come,
they will be too strong for me. They will take him from me for good."

And he did not come; till one of the morning, when he found her fast
asleep, the lamp still burning beside her.

[1] At once.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

"Ledge by ledge outbroke new marvels, now minute, and now immense:
Earth's most exquisite disclosure, heaven's own God in evidence!"
--Browning.

"Sahib, dinner is ready."

"I also am ready. More than ready!" Lenox answered, a twinkle in his
eyes.

Zyarulla responded by a gleam of teeth as he followed his master to the
camp fire of roots and scrub, on whose summit 'dinner' was served
steaming hot; a delectable mass of mutton and rice; eaten straight from
the