appeal to you?"

Her hand sought and closed upon his. "Ah, why not?" she said.

He did not answer her. Only, with his face bent down to hers, he said,
"The past is past then?"

"For ever," she made swift reply. "But I have always loved
Bhulwana--even in my sad times. Ah, listen! That is a _koil_!"

They listened to the bird's flutelike piping, standing closely linked in
the shadow of a little group of pines. In the bungalow behind them Peter
the Great was decking the table for their wedding-feast. The scent of
white roses was in the air, languorous, exquisite.

The blue jay laughed again in the acacia by the gate, laughed and flew
away. "Good riddance!" said Monck.

"Don't you like him?" said Stella.

"I'm not particularly keen on being jeered at," he answered.

She laughed at him in her turn. "I never thought you cared a single
_anna_ what any one thought of you."

He smiled. "Perhaps I have got more sensitive since I knew you."

She lifted her lips to his with a sudden movement. "I am like that too,
Everard. I care--terribly now."

He kissed her, and his kiss was passionate. "No one shall ever think
anything but good of you, my Stella," he said.

She clung to him. "Ah, but the outside world doesn't matter," she said.
"It is only we ourselves, and our secret, innermost hearts that count.
Everard, let us be more than true to each other! Let us be quite, quite
open--always!"

He held her fast, but he made no answer to her appeal.

Her eyes sought his. "That is possible, isn't it?" she pleaded. "My
heart is open to you. There is not a single corner of it that you may
not enter."

His arms clasped her closer. "I know," he said. "I know. But you mustn't
be hurt or sorry if I cannot say the same. My life is a more complex
affair than yours, remember."

"Ah! That is India!" she said. "But let me share that part too! Let me
be a partner in all! I can be as secret as the wiliest Oriental of them
all. I would so love to be trusted. It would make me so proud!"

He kissed her again. "You might be very much the reverse sometimes," he
said, "if you knew some of the secrets I had to keep. India is India,
and she can be very lurid upon occasion. There is only one way of
treating her then; but I am not going to let you into any unpleasant
secrets. That is Bluebeard's Chamber, and you have got to stay outside."

She made a small but vehement gesture in his arms. "I hate India!" she
said. "She dominates you like--li