forever and
ever. All this he felt and more as he looked into her face and saw the
traces of her great sorrow there. He had not thought that that face
could be more beautiful in its strength and purity, but it was even so.

"Cynthia-my love!" he cried, and raised his arms. But a look as of
a great fear came into her eyes, which for one exquisite moment had
yielded to his own; and her breath came quickly, as though she were
spent--as indeed she was. So far spent that the wall at her back was
grateful.

"No!" she said; "no--you must not--you must not--you must not!" Again
and again she repeated the words, for she could summon no others. They
were a mandate--had he guessed it--to herself as to him. For the time
her brain refused its functions, and she could think of nothing but the
fact that he was there, beside her, ready to take her in his arms. How
she longed to fly into them, none but herself knew--to fly into them as
into a refuge secure against the evil powers of the world. It was not
reason that restrained her then, but something higher in her, that
restrained him likewise. Without moving from the wall she pushed open
the door of the sitting room.

"Go in there," she said.

He went in as she bade him and stood before the flickering logs in the
wide and shallow chimney-place--logs that seemed to burn on the very
hearth itself, and yet the smoke rose unerring into the flue. No stove
had ever desecrated that room. Bob looked into the flames and waited,
and Cynthia stood in the entry fighting this second great battle which
had come upon her while her forces were still spent with that other one.
Woman in her very nature is created to be sheltered and protected; and
the yearning in her, when her love is given, is intense as nature itself
to seek sanctuary in that love. So it was with Cynthia leaning against
the entry wall, her arms full length in front of her, and her hands
clasped as she prayed for strength to withstand the temptation. At last
she grew calmer, though her breath still came deeply, and she went into
the sitting room.

Perhaps he knew, vaguely, why she had not followed him at once. He had
grown calmer himself, calmer with that desperation which comes to a man
of his type when his soul and body are burning with desire for a woman.
He knew that he would have to fight for her with herself. He knew now
that she was too strong in her position to be carried by storm, and the
interval had given him time to