keep
silence any longer. If I am abrupt you will forgive me, but will you
listen a few moments, and then answer me a question?"

The man's tone was humble if his eyes were eager, and Helen, who was
sensible of a tremor of emotion, leaned against the rails of the
veranda. The winter sunlight shone full upon her, and either that or
the cold breeze that she had met on the headland accounted for the
color in her cheeks. She made a dainty picture in her fur cap and
close-fitting jacket, whose rich fur trimming set off the curves of a
shapely figure. The man's longing must have shown itself in his eyes,
for Helen suddenly turned her glance away from him. Again she felt a
curious thrill, almost of pleasure, and wondered at it. If she had
guessed his meaning correctly she would have felt merely sorry for him,
and yet there was no mistaking an indefinite sense of satisfaction.

"Do you remember what I once told you at Graham's ranch?" he asked. "I
was a needy adventurer then, and guilty of horrible presumption, but
though the words came without my definite will I meant every one of
them. I knew there could be only one woman in the world for me, and I
solemnly determined to win her. It seemed madness--I was a poor,
unknown man--but the thought of you drove me resistlessly on until at
last the gulf between us has been narrowed, and may be narrower still.
That is, I have striven to lessen it in the one way I can--in all
others without your help it must remain impassable. Heaven knows how
far I am beneath you, and the daring hope has but one excuse--I love
you, and shall always do so. Is what I hope for quite impossible?"

While Helen would have told herself ten minutes earlier that she almost
disliked the pleader, she was conscious of a new emotion. She had
regarded other suitors with something like contempt, but it was not so
with Thurston. Even if he occasionally repelled her, it was impossible
to despise him.

"I am sorry," she said slowly. "Sorry that you should have told me
this, because I can only answer that it is impossible."

Geoffrey evinced no great surprise. His face became stern instead of
expectant; his toil-hardened frame was more erect, as he answered with
unusual gentleness:

"I have endeavored to prepare myself for your reply. How could I hope
to win you--as it were for the asking--easily? Still, though I am
painfully conscious of many possible reasons, may I venture to ask why
it is imposs