ng up between them. He did not imagine,
therefore, that there had been any change in her.

Claire had never told Lawrence of what he had said during his illness,
but her treatment of him was very different from what it had been
before. He had come out of his illness with a calm assurance of his
future, and he knew that he loved Claire. He did not know her feeling,
but as soon as he should be well he meant to tell her of his love once
more.

The days passed in quiet serenity. Outside the cabin the plateau flowed
under the pines into green and white and gold with dark patches of blue
flowers that filled Claire's heart with song. The lake was open and
glistened in the warm sun, while fish leaped in it, sending up sparkling
rainbow drops. Claire took to wandering along the shore with Lawrence or
Philip, or both, talking gaily all the while. She never mentioned her
husband, it was only of their return to civilization that she spoke and
of the great time the three of them would have in celebration. They
laughed agreement with her words.

As Lawrence grew more and more like himself there came a time, however,
when Philip could not but see that Claire was giving the artist a
tenderness, a sweetness of companionship, and a carefully guarded joy
which he had never known. It was impossible for him to say to himself
longer that it was only her nursing manner.

He took to watching her eyes, and again and again he caught them filled
with a deep light which they had never held for him. He now realized
that he had always feared Claire might love Lawrence, that he had feared
it even on the day of her confession. A fierce desire of possession
gripped him, and he swore to have this woman as his wife, in spite of
Lawrence, in spite of herself, if need be. It was this last frame of
mind which gained in constancy until he became a danger to Claire's
happiness.

She saw it in his dark expression, and her heart cried out against
herself for the time of weakness. Then a great doubt would assail her.
Lawrence had never spoken of love since he had regained his
consciousness, and she wondered if, after all, his talk had been mere
delirium, without basis in his normal mind. She determined to find out,
and then tell Philip the frank truth. She was sure that he would receive
it as a gentleman should, and let her moment of weakness pass forgiven.
She went over all their experience together, and she came to feel that,
in any case, she could never