ou. It's all bound up in the--the
fact of your difference from them, your youth, beauty, that you're not
a Mormon, that you nearly betrayed their secret at the trial in
Stonebridge."

"Please--please don't--speak of that!" she faltered.

"But I must," he replied, swiftly. "That trial was a torture to you. It
revealed so much to me.... I know you are a sealed wife. I know there
has been a crime. I know you've sacrificed yourself. I know that love
and religion have nothing to do with--what you are.... Now, is not all
that true?"

"I must not tell," she whispered.

"But I shall MAKE you tell," he replied, and his voice rang.

"Oh no, you cannot," she said.

"I can--with just one word!"

Her eyes were great, starry, shadowy gulfs, dark in the white beauty of
her face. She was calm now. She had strength. She invited him to speak
the word, and the wistful, tremulous quiver of her lips was for his
earnest thought of her.

"Wait--a--little," said Shefford, unsteadily. "I'll come to that
presently. Tell me this--have you ever thought of being free?"

"Free!" she echoed, and there was singular depth and richness in her
voice. That was the first spark of fire he had struck from her. "Long
ago, the minute I was unwatched, I'd have leaped from a wall had I
dared. Oh, I wasn't afraid. I'd love to die that way. But I never
dared."

"Why?" queried Shefford, piercingly.

She was silent then.

"Suppose I offered to give you freedom that meant life?"

"I--couldn't--take it."

"Why?"

"Oh, my friend, don't ask me any more."

"I know, I can see--you want to tell me--you need to tell."

"But I daren't."

"Won't you trust me?"

"I do--I do."

"Then tell me."

"No--no--oh no!"

The moment had come. How sad, tragic, yet glorious for him! It would be
like a magic touch upon this lovely, cold, white ghost of Fay Larkin,
transforming her into a living, breathing girl. He held his love as a
thing aloof, and, as such, intangible because of the living death she
believed she lived, it had no warmth and intimacy for them. What might
it not become with a lightning flash of revelation? He dreaded, yet he
was driven to speak. He waited, swallowing hard, fighting the tumultuous
storm of emotion, and his eyes dimmed.

"What did I come to this country for?" he asked, suddenly, in ringing,
powerful voice.

"To find a girl," she whispered.

"I've found her!"

She began to shake. He saw a white hand go to her breast.

"Wh