r, that the mother had covered it with a thick
veil, unable to meet the deep violet eyes that she had learned to
hate in Rene Laurance and his son.

Yet for the sake of that daughter, whose gaze she shunned, she was
about to step down into flames far fiercer than those of Tophet,
silently immolating all that remained of her life.

Although she neither turned her head nor removed her eyes from the
sea, she knew that the end was at hand. For one instant her heart
seemed to cease beating, then with a keen spasm of pain slowly
resumed its leaden labour.

The erect, graceful, manly figure at her side bent down, and the
grizzled moustache touched her forehead.

"Odille, I accept your terms. Henceforth in accordance with your own
conditions you are mine; mine in the sight of God and man."

Recoiling, she drew her handkerchief across the spot where his lips
had rested, and her voice sounded strangely cold and haughty:

"God holds Himself aloof from such sacrilege as this, and sometimes I
think He does not witness, or surely would forbid. Just yet, you must
not touch me. You accept the conditions named, and I shall hold
myself bound by the stipulations; but until I am your wife, until you
take my hand as Mrs. Laurance, you will pardon me if I absolutely
prohibit all caresses. I am very frank, you see, and doubtless you
consider me peculiar, probably prudish, but only a husband's lips can
touch mine, only a husband's arm encircle me. When we are
married----"

She did not complete the sentence, but a peculiar musical laugh
rippled over her lips, and she held out her hand to him.

"Remember, I promised General Laurance only my hand, and here I
surrender it. You have fairly earned it, but I fear it will not prove
the guerdon you fondly imagine."

He kissed it tenderly, and keeping it in his, spoke very earnestly:

"Only one thing, Odille, I desire to stipulate, and that springs
solely from my jealous love. You must promise to abandon the stage
for ever. Indeed, my beautiful darling, I could not endure to see my
wife, my own, before the footlights. In Mrs. Laurance the world must
lose its lovely idol."

"Am I indeed so precious in General Laurance's eyes! Will he hold me
always such a dainty sacred treasure, safe from censure and
aspersion? Sir, I appreciate the delicate regard that prompts this
expression of your wishes, and with one slight exception, I willingly
accede to them. I have written a little drama, adapting