new and unpathed
a world they were entering as the other. She took his hand.

"Stoop nearer to me, David."

She saw that his lips were less tense, that there was less of a strain
to his shoulders, but that his eyes burned no less brightly.

"Come," she said.

He went in through the window and opened the door for her. The house
smelled just as musty as before, but there was less thrill to the
dark. They lighted a bit of candle and made their way along the lower
hall, up the broad stairs and so into the very room where they had
stood a few months before. There were no strange creakings now, no
half-guessed movements among the curtains, no swift-gliding shadows
more felt than seen. There were no such vast spaces above, and no
uncertain alleys of dark. They were among the known things, the
certain, the sure.

He found kindling and lighted the fire. It flared up briskly and threw
flickering rays into the big room. The two pressed close to it,
for their clothes were wet. Not a thing was altered in the room and
yet it was a different room. The room was now a part of this house,
the house was part of the street, the street was part of the city,
the city part of the man-made world. For a moment the walls pressed
in upon them as the hotel walls had done, and the ceilings shut out
the stars. Then he turned and met her eyes. They were clear
now--unshadowed by doubt, fear, or question. He knew what it
meant,--at length she was altogether out of the web. It was odd
but he had never kissed her lips. He had waited for this.

She looked up at him and as she looked, she seemed to sink deeper than
ever into the golden, misty region which lay below the outer dark of
his eyes. She felt a tingling warmth suffuse her whole body; she felt
the room about her quicken to new life; and above her head she knew
the stars were shining again. She came into his arms putting her hands
upon his shoulder, throwing back her head with half-closed eyes. He
stooped, his lips brushed her lips; then met firmly in a clinging kiss
which set the world about them into a mad riot.

* * * * *

Transcriber's note:

Archaic and variable spelling, as well as inconsistency in
hyphenation, has been preserved as printed in the original book
except for the following changes.

Page 3: "distintly" changed to "distinctly" (This was distinctly a
novel viewpoint)

Page 75: "turbently" cha