bowed and kissed it, turned and
walked quickly toward the door.

With a half smothered cry she followed.

"Jim!"

He paused and turned again, facing her with a look of infinite sadness.

"Remember," she said brokenly, "I never expect to see you again--we can
not meet after this. I am looking into your dear face now with the
anguish of a broken heart strangling me. You can not leave like this,
we have been too much to each other."

He took her in his arms and held her close.

"Forgive me, dear," he whispered, reverently kissing her as he would
have pressed the lips of the dead. "I didn't mean to be
cruel--goodbye."

The door of the great house softly closed, and he was gone. A few
moments later the servants found her limp form lying in a swoon on the
floor.

CHAPTER X

AN EPILOGUE

Strangers no longer live in the cottage Stuart built on the hills. A
jaunty sailboat nods at the buoy near the water's edge. The drone of
bees from the fruit trees in full bloom on the terraces promise a
luscious harvest in the summer and fall. The lawn is a wilderness of
flowers and shimmering green. The climbing roses on the southeastern
side of the house have covered it to the very eaves of the roof. Stuart
has just cut them away from Harriet's window because they interfered
with her view of the bay and sea and towering hills they love so well.
And the crooning of a little mother over a baby's cradle fills the home
with music sweeter to its builder than any note ever heard in grand
opera.

THE END

* * * * *

THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N.Y.

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