D FOREST 300

XXIII. THE PROCESSION OF PRETTY LADIES 316

XXIV. THE AFTERGLOW 323

Glory of Youth

CHAPTER I

BETTINA

The girl knelt on the floor, feverishly packing a shabby little trunk.

Outside was a streaming April storm, and the rain, rushing against the
square, small-paned windows, shut out the view of the sea, shut out the
light, and finally brought such darkness that the girl stood up with a
sigh, brushed off her black dress with thin white hands, and groped her
way to the door.

Beyond the door was the blackness of an upper hall in a tall century-old
house. A spiral stairway descended into a well of gloom. An ancient iron
lantern, attached to a chain, hung from the low ceiling.

The girl lighted the lantern, and the faint illumination made deeper the
shadows below.

And from the shadows came a man's voice.

"May I come up?"

As the girl bent over the railing, the glow of the lantern made of her
hair a shining halo. "Oh," she cried, radiantly, "I'm so glad you've
come. I--I was afraid----"

The thunder rolled, the waves pounded on the rocks, and the darkness
grew more dense, but now the girl did not heed, for what mattered a mere
storm, when, ascending the stairs, was one who knew fear neither of life
nor of death, nor of the things which come after death?

When at last her visitor emerged from the gloom, he showed himself
beyond youthful years, with hair slightly touched with gray, not tall,
but of a commanding presence, with clear, keen blue eyes, and with
cheeks which were tanned by out-of-door exercise, and reddened by the
prevailing weather.

"I just had to come," he said, as he took her hand. "I knew you'd be
frightened."

"Yes," she said, "Miss Matthews is at school, and I am alone----"

"And unhappy?"

Her lips quivered, but she drew her hand from his, and went on into the
shabby room, where she lighted a candle in a brass holder, and touched a
match to a fire which was laid in the blackened brick fireplace.

The doctor's quick eye noted the preparations for departure.

"What does that mean?" he asked, and pointed to the trunk.

"I--I am going away----"

"Away?"

"Yes," nervously; "I--I can't stay here, doctor."

"Why not?"

"Oh," tremulously, "it was all right when I had mother, because she was
so sick that I was too busy to realize how deadly lonely it was here. I
knew she needed the s