almly between him and death, given
up her life with the free generous courage of a soldier or a hero.

"Why did you come between us?" he asked, suddenly bending over her; "why
did you do it?"

The calm light eyes looked down into the dark passionate depths of the
dying girl's pupils, and a long gaze passed between them. What secrets
of her soul were revealed to his in that instant when they stood face to
face with only Death between? Then Katrine turned her head wearily.

"I don't know," she answered faintly; "mere devilry, I think." And she
laughed.

The laugh shook the wounded lung. Her face turned from white to grey,
her teeth clenched. There was a spasm as of a sudden wrenching loose
from the body, then it sank back, collapsed, motionless, against
Talbot's breast.

The two men carried her out between them. The crowd made way for them,
standing on either side in respectful silence. Such incidents were not
uncommon, and excited nothing more than a dull and transient interest.
They took her out, and the gold for which two lives had been sacrificed
was left unheeded, scattered in the dust. They went out the way they had
come, through the noisome court, up the narrow flight of rotten,
slippery stairs into the pure icy air.

Stephen turned to Talbot and took the girl's body wholly into his arms.

"I want to carry her up to my cabin," he said in a choking voice, and
the other nodded.

The night was glorious with the deadly glory of the Arctic regions; the
air was still, and of a coldness that seemed to bite deep into the
flesh; but overhead, in the impenetrable blackness of the sky, the
stars shone with a brilliance found only in the north, throwing a cold
light over the snowy ground. To the south and east, low down, burned two
enormous planets, like fiery eyes watching them over the horizon.

Slowly the two men walked over the hard ground. Not another living being
was within sight.

Stephen walked first with heavy, uneven steps, and his breath came
quickly in suppressed and sobbing gasps. Talbot followed closely, deep
in painful thought. All had happened so suddenly. The whole horrible
tragedy had swept over them in a few minutes; she had passed away from
them both for ever. His brain seemed dazed by the shock. He could not
realise it. He saw her dark head lying on Stephen's shoulder. It seemed
as if she must lift it every second. He could not believe that she was
lifeless, lifeless, this creature who had alwa