ce low and very
deep.

She softly kissed the hand she held. "No, I didn't say--or mean--that. I
believe it is the greatest thing that I shall ever possess. But--shall I
tell you a secret? There is something in it that frightens me--even
though I glory in it."

"My dear!" he said.

She raised her lips again to his. "Yes, I know. That is foolish. But I
don't know you yet, remember. I have never yet seen you angry with me."

"You never will," he said.

"Yes, I shall." Her eyes were gazing into his, but they saw beyond.
"There will come a day when something will come between us. It may be
only a small thing, but it will not seem small to you. And you will be
angry because I do not see with your eyes. And I think the very
greatness of your love will make it harder for us both. You mustn't
worship me, Everard. I am only human. And you will be so bitterly
disappointed afterwards when you discover my limitations."

"I will risk that," he said.

"No. I don't want you to take any risks. If you set up an idol, and it
falls, you may be--I think you are--the kind of man to be ruined by it."

She spoke very earnestly, but his faint smile told her that her words
had failed to convince.

"Are you really afraid of all that?" he asked curiously.

She caught her breath. "Yes, I am afraid. I don't think you know
yourself, your strength, or your weakness. You haven't the least idea
what you would say or do--or even feel--if you thought me unkind or
unjust to you."

"I should probably sulk," he said.

She shook her head. "Oh, no! You would explode--sooner or later. And it
would be a very violent explosion. I wonder if you have ever been really
furious with any one you cared about--with Tommy for instance."

"I have," said Monck. "But I don't fancy you will get him to relate his
experiences. He survived it anyway."

"You tell me!" she said.

He hesitated. "It's rather a shame to give the boy away. But there is
nothing very extraordinary in it. When Tommy first came out, he felt the
heat--like lots of others. He was thirsty, and he drank. He doesn't do
it now. I don't mind wagering that he never will again. I stopped him."

"Everard, how?" Stella was looking at him with the keenest interest.

"Do you really want to know how?" he still spoke with slight hesitation.

"Of course I do. I suppose you were very angry with him?"

"I was--very angry. I had reason to be. He fell foul of me one night at
the Club. It doesn't matte