't told you about Robert," she said softly. "He has wealth,
and will have much more. He loves me. He offered me all, to do with it
as I wished. I've known him all my life--almost. He's good too, poor
Robert! But that day, after you'd told me that I must go back to New
York at once, I--"

"Marion!" Haig cried.

"No, listen! I told him that day that I could never marry him. He
couldn't understand--like you, Philip. He thought--dear Robert!--he
thought that money--I know it's what they want most--so many women.
But, Philip, dear heart! Don't you know that if a woman really loves
there's nothing she won't do--on her hands and knees--to the end of
the world? And if she has love, what else is there--that matters?"

"I didn't know," he answered, "and I couldn't have believed it
until--that day in the cave, when you fell ill."

He told her then of the revelation that had come to him, and how he
had taken her in his arms, in a fury of love and despair.

"But I thought it was a dream!" she murmured.

"No. I found you then--and myself--and thought it was too late!"

Later, across the table, when Slim Jim had brought in the after-dinner
coffee, Haig looked at her gravely, and said:

"May I become very practical for a minute, Marion?"

"Yes, but not too practical."

"Well, it's like this: I've got--"

He paused to reach for her hand, to clasp it on the cloth.

"_When_, Marion?" he asked, leaning toward her.

"Oh, we must talk with Claire about that, mustn't we?" she protested,
blushing. Then softly: "She's the only mother I've got, you see. And
besides, there's no--"

"No, not even a justice of the peace!" he said, laughing. "We might
strap on our old snowshoes, and go to Tellurium."

"The idea!"

"Well, listen. Do you know what I've been thinking?"

She shook her head.

"Paris."

"Paris?" she repeated, a little startled, after all that he had
revealed to her.

"Yes. I've got a little money in the bank in Tellurium, and I--"

"You needn't be so proud of it!" she retorted. "So have I, in New
York. So you needn't think it's your money I'm after, sir!"

They laughed, and then he had both her hands across the table.

"It isn't much, I assure you," he went on. "But it will do for a while
in Paris. I mean--if you will go with me--to find my old master, or
another. You know, Marion, he said to me many times: 'You're going to
be a painter some day, _mon petit_; you're going to do big things, if
you'll work, wor