or the
sake of lonely, fruitless hours with her; he had loved her--and he had
changed; he had gambled away her soul and life--a last and terrible
proof of the evil power of gold; and in the end he had saved her--he
had gone from her white, radiant, cool, with strange, pale eyes and
his amiable, mocking smile, and all the ruthless force of his life had
expended itself in one last magnificent stand. If only he had known her
at the end--when she lifted his head! But no--there had been only the
fading light--the strange, weird look of a retreating soul, already
alone forever.

A rustling of leaves, a step thrilled Joan out of her meditation.

Suddenly she was seized from behind, and Jim Cleve showed that though
he might be a joyous and grateful lover, he certainly would never be
an actor. For if he desired to live over again that fatal meeting and
quarrel which had sent them out to the border, he failed utterly in his
part. There was possession in the gentle grasp of his arms and bliss in
the trembling of his lips.

"Jim, you never did it that way!" laughed Joan. "If you had--do you
think I could ever have been furious?"

Jim in turn laughed happily. "Joan, that's exactly the way I stole upon
you and mauled you!".

"You think so! Well, I happen to remember. Now you sit here and make
believe you are Joan. And let me be Jim Cleve!... I'll show you!"

Joan stole away in the darkness, and noiselessly as a shadow she stole
back--to enact that violent scene as it lived in her memory.

Jim was breathless, speechless, choked.

"That's how you treated me," she said.

"I--I don't believe I could have--been such a--a bear!" panted Jim.

"But you were. And consider--I've not half your strength."

"Then all I say is--you did right to drive me off.... Only you should
never have trailed me out to the border."

"Ah!... But, Jim, in my fury I discovered my love!"

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