"And then, dear lady of mystery, what then?"

"Why, then I'm going to beckon to you and we'll dance----"

"Dance, my darling?"

"Yes, dance away and away to a holy place I know, and then I'm going to
tell you the whole story of Priscilla----"

But at that moment Margaret Moffatt came upon the scene. The miracle of
love had transfigured the girl. She looked, as Travers had said to
Priscilla, like the All Woman: large, fine, and noble, with unashamed
surrender in her splendid eyes.

"And that is what she is!" Priscilla had replied, "the All Woman. I could
die for her, live for her, do anything for her. For me, she is the first,
the one woman, in all the world."

"Young devotee, could you, would you, give your--love up for her?"
Travers had asked, and then Priscilla spoke words that Travers remembered
long afterward.

"I could not give my love up for--that is--I, myself; just as the dance
is--just as my soul is--but I could; yes, I know I could give up--my
happiness for her, if by so doing I could spare her one shadow. Her
glorious nature could reach where mine never could."

"Yours reaches to me, little girl."

"But hers--oh! my dear man, hers reaches to--the world. If you knew her
as I know her!"

But Margaret was whimsical and witchy as she came upon the two in the
small arbour by the lake.

"Folks," she said, "let us keep our nice little surprises to ourselves
for a while, like miserly creatures. My dear old daddy-boy is fretting
and fussing about me, 'dreading the issue,' as he told Doctor Ledyard,
and behold--I'm going to do exactly what my daddykins desires! And you,
Doctor Richard Travers, you are wanted by your lady mother. Here's a
telegram. The girl in the office always tells what is in a telegram, to
spare shock. And Cilla, my shining-headed chum, you and I are going to
scamper about a bit before we go home. I'd be a miserable defaulter,
indeed, if I did not give you your share of this experience. Oh! I know
you've snatched bits that in no wise were included in the program, but
we're all grafters. I want to play fair. Will you flit over the continent
with me and Mousey, dear little--pal?"

And three days later they began their trip, while Travers returned to
Helen. It was a charming trip the girls made, but their hearts were
elsewhere.

In October they were in New York again, and the inevitable happened.
Margaret was returned to her world, and, for the moment, was absorbed.
Priscilla lost s