s even above life."

"Would you kill me, for instance," asked Lawrence pleasantly, "if I
stood between you and Claire?"

"That is scarcely answerable," nervously interposed Claire. "You see,
you don't and the man who does--though it's all absurd, since we none of
us here are the least in love--is my husband."

"I had almost forgotten him," said Lawrence, his voice lingering softly
on the word "almost."

Philip laughed. "Why, yes, in the abstract, I should say that if
anything would make me kill you, it would be your standing between me
and the woman I loved. Of course, the case is fair, but scarcely
probable enough to make any of us worry."

"True"--Lawrence joined him at the fire--"and by the way, while I think
of it, I want a knife and a block of soft wood. I'm going to entertain
myself these days."

Quickly Claire looked up.

"And you shall entertain me, Philip," she said gaily.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE TIGHTENING NET.

Christmas was upon them. They gathered before the big fireplace in
silent meditation, while outside the wind whipped sheeted snow against
the walls and wailed dismally its endless journeying. They could not
help but feel the something melancholy in the air. The little cabin,
standing so far away from civilization and all the things they were
accustomed to know seemed somehow to set them apart from the rest of the
world and leave them stranded as it were, upon a barren stretch of
thought.

In keeping with the setting, solemn questions of destiny, death, and the
meaning of things took the place of the usual Christmas festival and
glitter.

In Lawrence's mind, Claire was growing more and more predominant. He
found her constant association weaving itself into his life until, when
he looked ahead toward the day when they must part, he discovered
himself asking what he could find that would take her place. Her voice,
her little habits of speech, the unexpected question that showed her
deep interest in him, in his work, and in his attitude toward her, these
had gradually stirred in him the desire to establish in his own mind a
definite relation toward her which he could maintain.

When Claire went out for a while with Philip, Lawrence spent the interim
in trying to reason out his problem. He told himself that he would feel
differently in his old environment with friends and work, but the answer
was not satisfactory. He knew that even there, he would miss the quick
sound of movement, the