she stretched out her arms involuntarily--in the silence she
spoke, a heart-sob in every word:

"Laurence!" she cried, "come back!"

The restless leaves fluttered around her, the wind touched her face and
swept by. She leaned wearily against the gate.

"Laurence!" she whispered, "Laurence! Laurence! If I could only see you
once more--only once--if I knew you had not quite forgotten me--if I
could only bid you good-by before we part forever, I think everything
would be easy after that."

Had the thought evoked his phantom?

Who was that coming along the silent road? A tall, slender figure,
wearing a loose, light overcoat, strangely, bewilderingly familiar. That
negligent, graceful walk, that uplifted carriage of the head--surely,
surely she knew both. She leaned forward in breathless expectation--her
lips apart, her eyes alight. Nearer and nearer he came, and the face she
had longed to see, had prayed to see, looked down upon her once more
with the old familiar smile.

Laurence Thorndyke!

She leaned against the gate still in breathless hush, pale, terrified.
She could not speak, so intense was her surprise, and the voice for
whose sound she had hungered and thirsted with her whole foolish,
romantic heart sounded in the silence:

"Norine!"

She made no answer; in her utter astonishment and swift joy she could
only stand and gaze, speechless.

"Norine, I have come back again. Have you no word of welcome for your
old friend?"

Still she did not speak--still she stood looking as though she never
could look enough--only trembling a little now.

"I have startled you," he said very gently, "coming so unexpectedly upon
you like a ghost in the moonlight. But I am no spirit, Norine--shake
hands."

He leaned across the closed gate, and took both her hands in his warm,
cordial clasp. They were like ice. Her eyes were fixed almost wildly
upon his face, her lips were trembling like the lips of a child about to
cry.

"Won't you speak then, Norine? Have I startled you so much as that? I
did not expect to see you or any one at this hour, but I had to come. Do
you hear, Norry? I had to come. And now that we have met, Norine, won't
you say you are glad to see me again?"

She drew away her hands suddenly--covered her face and broke into a
passion of tears. Perhaps she had grown hysterical, her heart had been
full before he came, and it needed only this shock to brim over. He
opened the gate abruptly and came to her sid