ft clinging
draperies of white and cream, she was a charming reality.

"I'm afraid they were," Geoffrey answered, and Helen laughed musically.

"One would fancy that you took life too much in earnest," she said.
"It is fortunately impossible either to work or to pile up money
forever, and a holiday is good for everybody. I am going down to White
Rock Cove to see if my marine garden is as beautiful as it used to be.
Would you care to inspect it and carry this basket for me?"

Thurston showed his pleasure almost too openly. They chatted lightly
on many subjects as they walked together, knee-deep, at times, among
scarlet wine-berries, and the delicate green and ebony of maidenhair
fern. The scents and essence of summer hung heavy in the air. Shafts
of golden sunlight, piercing the somber canopy of the forest isles,
touched, and, it seemed to Geoffrey, etherealized, his companion. The
completeness of his enjoyment troubled the man, and presently he lapsed
into silence. All this appeared too good, too pleasant, he feared, to
last.

"Do you know that you have not answered my last question, nor spoken a
word for the last ten minutes?" inquired Helen with a smile, at length.
"Have these woods no charm for you, or are you regretting the cigarbox
beneath the cedar?"

Geoffrey turned towards her, and there was a momentary flash in his
eyes as he answered:

"You must forgive me. Keen enjoyment often blunts the edge of speech,
and I was wishing that this walk through the cool, green stillness
might last forever."

Afraid that he might have said too much, he ceased speaking abruptly,
and then, after the fashion of one unskilled in tricks of speech,
proceeded to remedy one blunder by committing another.

"It reminds me of the evenings at Graham's ranch. There can surely be
no sunsets in the world to equal those that flame along the snows of
British Columbia, and you will remember how, together, we watched them
burn and fade."

It was an unfortunate reference, for now and then Helen had recalled
that period with misgivings. Cut off from all association with persons
of congenial tastes, she had not only found the man's society
interesting, but she had allowed herself to sink into an indefinite
state of companionship with him. In the mountain solitude, such
camaraderie had seemed perfectly natural, but it was impossible under
different circumstances. It was only on the last occasion that he had
ever hinted at a con