All this fixed Clement's attention, and as the young girl lifted the
glass in her slim hand he wondered how she had escaped his notice for
a single moment. A woman at his side said sighfully, "There is that
consumptive girl again, she hasn't long to stay." She was as pale, as
fragile, and as lovely as the mountain columbine. Her face was thin,
and her head shapely, but her eyes! They burned like rarest
topaz--deep, dark and sad. Clement shivered as he felt them fixed upon
him, and yet he could not turn away as he should have done.

He gazed at her with a sudden feeling which was not awe, nor
compassion, nor love, but was all of these. He felt in his soul the
subtlest sadness in all the world--the sadness of a strong man who
looks upon a beautiful young girl who is dying.

Extremest languor was in every movement. She was dressed in dark, soft
garments--very simple and graceful in effect, and her bearing was that
of one accustomed to willing service from others. Her smile was as sad
as her eyes which had in them the death-shadow.

Clement's action, the unwavering self-forgetful intentness of his
look, arrested her attention, and she returned his gaze for an
instant, and then turned away and took the arm of an elderly gentleman
who stood beside her. She moved slowly, as an invalid walks when for
the first time she is permitted a short walk in the outdoor air,
leaning heavily on her companion.

The big miner roused himself and stood straight and tall, hesitating
whether to follow or not--a sudden singular pain in his heart, as if
he were losing something very close to his life.

He obeyed the impulse to follow, and moved down the path, just out of
reach of observation, he fancied. As he made way through the crowd he
grew aware again of his heavy limbs, of his great height, of his
swinging, useless hands. It had been so long since he had mingled with
a holiday company, he appeared as self-conscious as a boy.

Once the fair invalid turned and looked back, but she was too far away
for him to discern the expression of her face. He was not possessed
of self-esteem enough to believe she had turned to look for him.

He followed them in their slow pace till they turned in at the doorway
of the principal hotel of the village. They entered at the ladies'
door while he kept on to the main entrance and rotunda. There was no
elevator in the house, and the invalid paused a moment before
attempting the stairway. It was pitiful