her extraordinary gift of crystal-seeing. He was beginning to wonder
if it were worth while. At any rate, he would be foolish not to reap
the reward of his deceit at this point.

"Well," he concluded brusquely, "we must not get gloomy on the eve of
victory. To-morrow the moon is full--do you think you will be strong
enough to come with me to-morrow night to the shrine of the Golden
Man?"

"Yes," she answered indifferently.

"He chose his own and surely he will not desert the agent of his
choosing."

"No," answered the girl.

Her eyes rested a moment upon the silver lake before her and then upon
the cliffs beyond. She had an odd desire this evening to get nearer to
those walls of granite. A dozen times she had found her eyes turning
to them and each time she obeyed the impulse it was followed by a new
longing for David. She wished he were here with her now. She wished he
was to be with her to-morrow night when Sorez took her out upon the
lake with him. She did not mind gazing into the eyes of the image, of
sinking under their spell, but now--this time--she would feel better
if he were near her. She had a feeling as though he _were_ somewhere
near her--as though he were up there near the cliffs which she faced.

CHAPTER XXV

_What the Stars Saw_

The moon shone broadly over a pool of purplish quicksilver. A
ragged fringe of trees bordered it like a wreath. The waters were
quiet--very, very quiet. They scarcely rippled the myriad stars which
glittered back mockingly at those above. The air over and above it all
was the thin air of the skies, not of the earth. It was as silent
here as in the purple about the planets. Man seemed too coarse for so
fine a setting. Even woman, nearest of all creatures to fairy stuff,
must needs be at her best to make a fitting part of this.

From out of the shadows of this fringe of trees there stole silently
another shadow. This moved slowly like a funeral barge away from the
shore. As it came full into the radius of that silver light (a light
matching the dead) it seemed more than ever one with sheeted things,
for half prone upon this raft lay a girl whose cheeks were white
against the background of her black hair and whose eyes saw nothing of
the world about her. She stared more as the dead stare than the
living,--stared into the shining eyes of the golden image which she
held with rigid arms upon her knees, the image which had entangled so
many lives. Her bosom moved rhy